A POSTMAN who downloaded more than 3,000 child abuse images has been sent on an internet sex offenders’ course.
Gary Dennis, aged 56, claimed he liked looking at the faces of the young girls.
But a judge branded his interest in them as perverted and depraved.
Dennis was traced after logging into child pornography websites using an obscene alias. He was found with still images and movies on two different computers and a hard drive, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Dennis, of Homer Close, Bratton Fleming, Barnstaple, admitted 21 offences of making or possessing 3,420 indecent images or movies of children.
They included 150 rated at the worst two levels, which show adults sexually abusing children.
He was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years, and ordered to attend a sex offenders’ treatment programme as a condition on a two-year supervision order.
The judge also made a sexual offences prevention order, which will prevent him having unsupervised access to children, and ordered him to sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, told him: “I do not accept your protestation you were not looking at these images for your own sexual gratification.
“You say you liked looking at pictures of young girls because they had pretty faces.
“Without seeking to be too crude, you are hardly going to look at the pretty face of a five-year-old when she is taking part in a sexual act with an adult male.
“You were quite clearly looking at these images for your own perverted and depraved satisfaction and not for the faces.
“However, you have not been convicted before or you would be going straight to prison.”
Mr David Sapiecha, prosecuting, said: “These are images in relation to children, of whom the youngest was aged four to six and in the main they were aged seven to 12.
“Police were alerted because the defendant’s IP address was being used to access images.”
“Most of the images were in live files on his computer and could be accessed at any time. Two computers and an external hard drive were found with images.
“He told police he started looking at adult pornography but that was not enough for him and he went onto child images.
“He also said he received images from others.”
Mr Nigel Wraith, defending, urged the judge to follow the recommendations of a pre-sentence report.
He said Dennis deserved credit for his early guilty plea and the help he gave the police.
