A PENSIONER caught with more than 7,000 indecent images of children has been spared jail.
John Stoddart made over 500 indecent images of children — 149 fell into the most severe category (A) for child abuse.
Files containing the words "Pedoland, Preteen and Lolita" were linked to 65-year-old's IP address and online user profile.
Forensic analysis of his digital devices found 7,256 indecent images and 754 videos from as early as 2004.
An additional 3,000 images related to bestiality.
During a police interview, he initially denied all allegations and said he was not sexually attracted to children.
He said he sometimes clicked on online files ‘to give them a go’, and that he’d once inadvertently seen a video of a baby being abused by clicking into a pop-up on his screen.
Within the downloaded material, officers found Stoddart was a fan of online games and visual stories featuring erotic encounters with adults, children and animals.
He admitted having a fascination with incest because it was ‘taboo’ and said he had been collecting extreme pornography since living in Germany in the seventies.
Stoddart, of Madeira Road, Ventnor was sentenced to eight months in jail suspended for two years and hit with a £3,000 fine after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
At the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court on July 13 he admitted ten charges mainly relating to making and possessing indecent images of children.
As part of his sentencing yesterday at Newport Crown Court He has been put on the sex offenders register for ten years, given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order limiting his use of the internet, ordered to attend a 35-day rehabilitation programme and told his electronic devices will be destroyed.
NCA officers arrested him in June 2018 after proving he had made child sex abuse files available on an online sharing platform.
NCA operations manager, Martin Matthews said: “Over decades Stoddart had made and amassed a vast collection of imagery that was both obscene and involved the sexual exploitation of children.
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“He took pleasure in experiencing a virtual world online that involved violence and sexual abuse. Stopping this before it ever became a reality was paramount to our officers.
“Protecting children remains a top priority for the NCA and we won’t stop in our pursuit of those individuals who pose a threat.”
Child protection charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else’s behaviour towards children.
If you are concerned a crime has been committed against a child contact your local police. For child safety advice visit the Thinkuknow website.
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