A Needingworth man has escaped prison after police found hundreds of indecent images of children on his laptop.

Sean Williams, of Townsend Road, admitted to three counts of making indecent photographs of children, a charge of possessing prohibited images of a child, and a further two counts of possessing pornography involving animals.

Cambridge Crown Court heard that the indecent images were found after a warrant was executed by Cambridgeshire police at his house on July 18.

Williams’ was not present at the time of the warrant but his computer equipment was confiscated and he later made full admissions at Huntingdon Police Station.

“The defendant used a peer-to-peer system to download images externally.

At first he was looking at adults then he started looking at alternatives including children,” said Peter Gair, prosecuting.

Judge Gareth Hawkesworth was told that the 30-year-old was “glad he was caught”.

Williams, at the time of his arrest, had 55 category A images – deemed the most serious by the police – 46 category B images and 132 category C images on his laptop.

Joseph McKenna, in mitigation, said that Williams suffered from “low self-esteem” which “led him down the road of looking at pornography and ultimately illegal pornography”.

Mr McKenna added that Williams is taking part in a sexual offences programme “which has been helping him understand what he did” and “find out his trigger points”.

“There is clear remorse in Mr Williams’ submission, he was of good character. There have been demonstrations of steps to address the offending behaviour.”

In sentencing, the judge handed a sentence of six months imprisonment suspended for two years along with a 40-hour rehabilitation activity requirement.

He said: “It is quite clear from the pre-sentence report that you have led a rather sad and lonely life. I have no doubt that your isolation has had recourse to looking at pornography which led you to looking at images of children.”

Williams was also ordered to attend a sex offender treatment programme and to take part in a sexual harm prevention order for seven years which includes not being in the company of a child under the age of 18 without supervision, and to make his internet history available to police on demand