SHAMED Derek Fairhurst has been spared prison by a judge after being convicted of downloading nearly 2,500 images of child porn from the internet.
Fairhurst, 41, of Mill Road, Marlow, admitted 11 specimen counts of making indecent images of child porn in February.
He was given a three-year community rehabilitation order at Aylesbury Crown Court last Friday.
Judge Roger Connor, sentencing, said Fairhurst could have faced up to 12 months in prison if he had pleaded not guilty.
The court heard how Fairhurst had accessed 2,428 indecent images of children from various web sites and printed off 400, which he kept in photo albums.
Ffyon Reilly, prosecuting, said police carried out a search of Fairhurst’s home on November 27 last year and seized two computers and a metal box containing various material.
The court heard the majority of the images were in the least serious categories of indecency and a small number were in the most serious.
Nicholas Syfrett, mitigating, said the offences covered a period between June and September 1999 and Fairhurst’s arrest has brought him public shame.
He told the court Fairhurst and his wife still have a satisfactory relationship, although they do not live together.
Mr Syfrett added: “He is extremely remorseful and deeply ashamed for what he has done.”
Judge Roger Connor said: “I am faced with a fait accompli.
“Do I pass a sentence so as to mark the disapproval of society for this sort of behaviour punishing you further and hopefully deterring others from behaving in similar activities or do I make an order that will be intended to have the rehabilitative effect so far as you are concerned and minimise the risk of you behaving in a similar way in the future?
“I have to come to the conclusion that in all the circumstances it would be more appropriate to make the order that the probation service recommended after very careful and extensive assessment.”
The order will run concurrently on all counts.
Fairhurst was also ordered to pay £250 prosecution costs and to register as a sex offender for five years.
