A Lambeth councillor has resigned after he was arrested on suspicion of downloading indecent images from the internet.

Former Tulse Hill ward councillor Toren Smith's home in Lilford Road, Camberwell, was raided on Friday by officers from the Met's specialist child abuse investigation team.

The unmarried 42-year-old's computer was seized and will now be checked by officers for illegal images. He was bailed by police while officers continue their investigation.

A police spokesman would not state the nature or number of images Mr Toren was suspected of possessing, or whether it was part of a wider operation.

Mr Toren resigned on Monday. A statement from council leader Steve Reed on Tuesday said: "Councillor Toren Smith has resigned from Lambeth Council for personal reasons at the Labour Party's request. His resignation has immediate effect."

The allegations have shocked the council. Coun Toren was a respected senior Labour member of the council who had been an elected member for 16 years and was co-chair of the council's planning committees.

He is understood to have had a clean record when an advanced Criminal Records Bureau check was carried out on him last year as part of a new council protocol in light of the Baby P scandal.

He was contacted by the Streatham Guardian but was unavailable for comment. He has also closed his Twitter account.

His arrest has rocked the Labour administration three weeks after a landslide election victory, and just a week after it suspended another of its councillors on suspicion of leaking confidential information to opposition councillors.

Councillor Kingsley Abrams was suspended last week from the Labour Group for four months after council officers raided his email account. A spokeswoman from the Labour group office said copies of emails were found that had been sent to opposition councillors in the run up to the election which constituted "a serious breach" of party rules.

The use of town hall officers in a party-political context has been criticised by oppositon councillors. Coun Abrams remains an independent councillor in Vassall ward and is entitled to appeal against the decision within 14 days.

Mr Smith's resignation has triggered a byelection in Tulse Hill, which is due to take place on July 1.