Pervert caught with more than a thousand indecent child images on devices at his home in Leeds

James Smith was arrested at his home in Leeds after police received information that a Facebook account linked to him had been used to upload an indecent image of a child.

Leeds Crown Court heard West Yorkshire Police officers went to Smith's home to execute a search warrant on April 25, 2019.

Two mobile phones, a laptop and a hard drive were taken away for analysis and found to contain a total of 1,516 indecent child images.

A total of 28 images were at category A - the most serious level of offending.

Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said the images had been accessed over a three-year period, between April 2016 and March 2019.

There appeared to be a "level of organisation" of the illegal material.

Officers also discovered a seperate folder of images of a 15-year-old girl.

Smith was interviewed by the police and initially denied committing any offences.

He claimed he had received an invite to look at the images and was then unable to stop them being sent to him.

Evidence also revealed that he had been searching for images online using terms which indicated a sexual interest in children.

Smith, 29, of Kentmere Avenue, Seacroft, pleaded guilty to three counts of making an indecent image of a child and one of possessing prohibited images.

Khadim Al-Hassan, mitigating, said Smith pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage and had not offended in almost three years since he was arrested.

A probation service report stated that Smith was suitable for a programme designed to prevent him reoffending.

Jude Tom Bayliss QC said: "The public need protecting from him and the best way of protecting the public is making the type of order that the probation service suggests."

Smith was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and placed on the sex offender register for ten years.