The former head of midwifery at the University of Leeds has admitted to possessing almost 2,000 pornographic images of children.
Lecturer Martin Towers, 58, resigned from his position after police raided his home and found disturbing images of youngsters aged as young as two.
Leeds Crown Court heard Towers and wife were both school governors at the time of the offences, which were discovered in January last year.
They have now resigned from their roles.
A judge told Towers, of Churchfield Lane, Rothwell, Leeds, that he had “publicly humiliated” himself and his family by downloading the vile images.
The father of two avoided a jail sentence yesterday and was made the subject of a three-year community and supervision order in which he will have to attend a sex offender programme.
He was also banned from having unsupervised contact with children.
The University of Leeds confirmed Towers had been an
employee but no longer worked there.
The court heard Towers tried to commit suicide after he was arrested but was stopped when police tracked him through his mobile phone.
Yunus Valli, prosecuting, said police executed a warrant at Towers’s home on January 15 last year after receiving information and seized computers.
Indecent images were found hidden on files and folders on the software.
Mr Valli said: “In interview he said he was the head of midwifery at Leeds University, although he has resigned.
“Since then he had suffered a minor stroke between the two interviews when he was on bail.”
Towers told officers he had looked at the images and thought of it as “being naughty” but would delete them.
He said he only had an interest in adult pornography and derived no sexual gratification from them.
Towers pleaded guilty to 21 offences of making indecent images of children.
The court heard a total of 1,986 images were discovered, or which 65 were at level four, the second most serious kind.
Lindsay Lobley, mitigating, said: “The defendant did try to take his own life. Police tracked his mobile phone to make it an unsuccessful attempt.”
The lawyer said Towers had since been introduced to a counsellor at the university and was now taking steps to address his offending.
She added that Towers’s health had suffered since the offences came to light.
His wife wrote a letter to the court describing her husband as a “kind, hardworking man who always puts his family first.”
Sentencing Towers, Judge Guy Kearl QC said: “I think anybody who knows you would be astonished to see you standing in the dock.”
The judge added: “Before the discovery of these images you had a respectable job as a lecturer at Leeds University’s School of Healthcare. You have resigned and rightly so.
“Your wife has been publicly humiliated in her professional life. Not surprisingly the past 18 months have been stressful.”