The sadistic master of a fetish club who kept "slaves" at his home is facing prison after he was convicted of spanking women in front of a young teenage boy and keeping extreme pornography.

Seedy Brian Thornhill, who was master of the North Downs Pony Club near Rainham, had claimed flogging the women in front of the 14-year-old child and encouraging the youngster to take part was "nothing sexual".

His weird world of BDSM - bondage discipline sadomasochism - was laid bare to jurors during a six-day trial.

Thornhill said he would keep women at his home as his around-the-clock slaves, dress them up in bondage gear and spank them with whips and paddles.

He admitted he had invited the boy to take part in the ritual humiliation - but claimed there was no sexual motive to his "spiritual" alternative lifestyle.

Jurors unanimously found the fetish boss guilty of five counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and six counts of possession of extreme pornography.

The court heard the 59-year-old runs the North Downs Pony Club - a fetish and bondage group where women dress up as horses in bondage gear in Rainham.

Thornhill told the court he kept three female slaves at his home in South Godstone, Surrey, and would allow his pet dog lick his genitals because they had an "overly close relationship".

Jurors heard from Thornhill's former wife of eight years, who said she was made to dress up in leather before he lashed her with a whip and encouraged her to watch violent films.

Sarah Baker said the couple's sex life had been normal in the early days of their relationship, but her ex-husband had gradually introduced elements of BDSM.

"I didn't like it," she told the jury. "I don't like pain."

"It's not about sex. It's about a power exchange..." - Brian Thornhill

After she left him in 2000, Thornhill said he kept three female "slaves" at his home.

One stayed for 11 months, another for three months and the third for two weeks.

However, he said there was "nothing sexual about it" when he admitted pulling one of the women's housecoats down and inviting the 14-year-old boy to flog her.

"I personally don't think he would have been sexually motivated towards that," he said.

"To me and to him there was no difference to trying it out on the settee."

Thornhill was charged after a social worker spotted an online picture of him posing next to a naked woman with the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

During the trial, the fetish boss told the jury his lifestyle was about a "meeting of souls and minds" and described the BDSM lifestyle as being "spiritual".

"It's not about sex," he told the jury at Guildford Crown Court, "it's about a power exchange."

He was charged after officers, acting on a tip-off, searched his home and found extreme pornographic photographs, as well as 43 video clips of a similar nature.

They also found a BDSM video called Iron Horse, showing an act said to have resulted in or likely to result in serious genital injury.

Following the guilty verdict, Judge Neil Stewart told Thornhill he would delay sentencing until next month so he could have a hospital scan for a growing brain tumour.

Judge Stewart added: "Because of the health issues I will delay sentencing if it is necessary to go for a full pre-sentence report.

"Mr Thornhill should not think that this is in any way an indication of what the sentence will be. All options are open."