Jailed: Telford voyeur made almost 500 indecent images of children

Andrew Lees admitted making almost 500 images that left his victims "devastated".

Evidence gathered by detectives led to 13 charges of making indecent photographs of a child.

The 50-year-old, from Madeley, also admitted three charges of voyeurism.

Lees pleaded guilty to all 16 charges when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court last month.

He returned to court for sentencing, where he was given a three-and-a-half year sentence by Judge Peter Barrie.

The court heard Lees made the photographs between February 2012 and June 2015, of which 42 were at the most serious Category A.

He had also created indecent moving images.

Phillip Beardwell, prosecuting, told the court that when the offences came to light, Lees blamed the "stresses in his life" as a factor that contributed to why he did what he did.

The prosecuting barrister said the images had been taken and made for his own pleasure, rather than for distribution.

Mr Danny Smith, defending, described Lee's offending behaviour as "out of character".

The court heard he regretted his actions, which happened at a vulnerable time in his life.

Mr Smith told the hearing: "Mr Lees was a broken man, a man of a fragile mental state at the time of committing these offences.

"He recognises what he's done is morally and criminally wrong.

"He is remorseful for his actions."

But Judge Barrie said he had no option but to impose a custodial sentence.

He also criticised Lees for not realising the seriousness of his offences when he was confronted by detectives.

The judge told him: "I recognise from the comments you made to police when this came to light that you didn't realise how seriously this would be dealt with by the courts and how harmful it was."

Judge Barrie told Lees that he was responsible for infringing the privacy of others.

He said his young victims, both female and male, had been made to feel "angry, scared and embarrassed".

Speaking of one of the victims, the judge said: "The effect on her has been devastating."

For all the offences, Lees was handed a prison sentence of three-and-a-half years, as well as having a sexual harm prevention order imposed on him.

A forfeiture and destruction order was also made on all the photographs, moving images and the equipment used to film them.