An "isolated" paedophile who is "terrified" of prison has been jailed after vile indecent images were found in his possession.
Shai O'Brien had a collection of over 2,000 child abuse images - some of which depicted children as young as one-year-old.
The 22-year-old was finally caught after police raided his County Durham home and found the images stashed on a mobile phone.
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O'Brien appeared at Durham Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced for making indecent images.
He pleaded guilty to the charge at a previous hearing.
Katy Rafter, prosecuting, said police executed a warrant at an address where O'Brien was living on May 23, 2020.
A number of electronic devices were seized, including his mobile phone.
The phone was examined and revealed a collection of 233 category A, 297 category B, and 1,489 category C indecent images of children.
Ms Rafter said the images had been uploaded between 2014 and 2020 and depicted children aged between one-year-old and 17-years-old.
Over 300 images had been uploaded to a Dropbox account and mobile phone messages showed he had been messaging others about indecent images.
In police interview, O'Brien, of Main Street, Shildon, "denied being aroused" by the images and said he was "disgusted by them".
In mitigation, Chris Baker said a guilty plea was entered at the first opportunity and said O'Brien lives an "isolated life" and suffers from depression.
He said O'Brien is "naïve" and has "difficulties with social interaction" and is "terrified of an immediate custodial sentence".
Judge Ray Singh said they were "serious offences" and that a "significant number of category A images" were found.
He said O'Brien had "little appreciation" of his offending and jailed him for eight months.
He was put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order was also imposed.
