AN OSWESTRY man who admitted downloading hundreds of indecent photographs of children has been sentenced to a community order.
Martin Pilsbury, 31, of Whittington Road, appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
He had previously admitted making, by downloading, 108 indecent photographs of a child on February 23, 2007, making a film of a child on November 12, 2007, and making 696 indecent photographs of children between January 1, 2005 and November 14, 2007.
He was sentenced to a three-year Community Order and made the subject of notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act for five years.
Pilsbury was also barred from working with children for life, told he would carry out the community sex offenders group work programme and ordered to pay £300 court costs.
Mr Stuart Clarkson, prosecuting, said Pilsbury claimed he had downloaded the images alongside legal pornography and had not looked at many of them.
He said: “On November 14, 2007, officers went to an address in Whittington Road in Oswestry at 7.35am. They were there for an unrelated and unconnected matter but while police were there they came across a manuscript list of three pornographic sites which suggested an interest in child pornography.
“Police decided to seize the two computers which were analysed and on the first one there were 696 images. On the second computer there was one movie image and on another hard drive on the same computer 108 images were found,” Mr Clarkson added.
The court heard all of the images were classed as level one and the film was classed at level two.
Mr Paul Smith, for Pilsbury, said: “This is a case where there is that uncomfortable barrier with people looking at lawful porn and unlawful porn.”