A pervert caught with indecent images of children blamed his addiction to pornography for his vile stash.
Nathan Stephen's sickening collection featured infants and children aged up to 16 years and he had distributed one of them to someone who later told him she was a child herself, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
When confronted by police on October 14 2020, he asked: "Is this about the girl I was speaking to because I didn't realise she was 15 until later".
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Various devices were seized and he was found to be in possession of 43 of the most serious, category A, images, 52 category B and 73 category C. He also had 2,876 prohibited images and seven extreme pornography images.
There had also been more than 14,000 keyword search terms used which are associated with indecent images. When interviewed, Stephen said he was speaking online to a female in America and he started sending cartoon pornography. He said she initially said she was 19.
He then sent her one indecent image of a girl aged around 10 being abused and she told him she was a child. Stephen told police he didn't believe he had a sexual attraction to children and claimed he was just addicted to pornography.
The 25-year-old, of Brighton Road, Gateshead, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images, distributing one category A image, possessing prohibited images and possessing extreme pornography. He was sentenced to two years suspended for two years with a four month curfew. He must also sign the sex offenders register for ten years and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
Tony Cornberg, defending, said Stephen has mental health issues and has voluntarily signed up to the "Stop it Now" programme to tackle his offending.
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