Indecent images of children found on man's computer
A man has been given a second chance after more than 32,000 indecent images of children were found on his computer.
Gavin Small, 32, had 44 category A - the most serious - still or moving indecent images of children, 92 category B, and 32,212 category C images.
Small, of Church Close, Shawbury, also had 98 prohibited images of children, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Friday.
Mr Robert Edwards, prosecuting, said police conducted an investigation into an IP address and Small's father was subject to an investigation initially.
The focus moved onto the defendant, a warrant was executed and various items of computer equipment were seized and examined.
Mr Edwards said: "During the course of his interview with the police the defendant denied any knowledge of these images and gave various explanations as to how they came to be there.
"The majority of the children in the images were between the age of eight and 12, however some, in the view of the forensic examiner, were as young as four years old."
Mr Andrew McInnes, on behalf of Small, said Small is not accepting culpability for the images.
A jury found Small guilty of the offences.
Judge Peter Barrie said: "You were convicted on the plainest evidence, there's no explanation about how this material got onto your computer other than you put it there.
"You must understand that every photograph of a child is the result of a child in question having been abused for real, not on a computer, so these offences are serious."
Small was handed a suspended sentence of a year, ordered to complete 30 days of rehabilitation work, to pay £1,000 and told he will be on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
