A paedophile collected more than 1,500 indecent images on an iPhone he kept hidden away under the floorboards of his bedroom.
When caught out, Daniel Middlehurst claimed that he had been gathering the sick images and videos - which showed girls aged as young as four being sexually abused - on behalf of the police. Officers also found pairs of girls' underwear stashed under his mattress when they raided his home in St Helens.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that the National Crime Agency alerted Merseyside Police to suspect IP addresses linked to the property on Shaw Street. Officers executed a search warrant on December 4 last year, at which point Middlehurst "denied any material was present".
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But the 28-year-old had in fact been posing online under the pseudonym "Preteen Lover" and had collected a total of 1,744 indecent images of children since November 2013. They "showed females aged approximately four to 13", with most being videos and 1,148 graded as category A - pictures and movies showing the most serious forms of abuse.
The majority were found on encrypted cloud storage and the photo gallery on a mobile discovered under a loose floorboard in Middlehurst's room. He had also searched the internet with terms including "Snapchat 8 Lolita" and "jailbait".
The defendant then told the police this was the "only device on which material would be found" and the phone in question had "only been used in that way for a short period of time". But the search also revealed a second damaged iPhone which contained 180 vile pictures in a Dropbox.
The two phones contained 85 extreme pornographic images which, according to Middlehurst's charge sheet, showed persons "performing acts of intercourse or oral sex with animals". He refused to provide the pin number for a third mobile which was seized.
Also recovered from the address were a pair of girls' knickers for a child aged 13 to 14 - found in bag alongside "other female underwear" - and two further pairs of girls' knickers underneath his mattress, as well as a quantity of cannabis. Under interview and in consultations with the Probation Service, Middlehurst "made assertions he was gathering the images to send to the police and had no sexual interest in children" and claimed to have been a class B dealer at one stage.
He held his head in his hands crying through the hearing. Laura Knightly, defending, told the court: "It's acknowledged that the custody threshold has been passed.
"The defence would ask the court to step back from immediate custody in the circumstances of this case. It's clear that he does feel remorse.
"He knows he can't change his mistakes, but he can make changes himself so he doesn't make these mistakes again. As a result of his difficult background, he is attempting to seek help so that he doesn't put himself in the situation again where he will make such horrible mistakes.
"It would be more beneficial to the community to do rehabilitative work to prevent the offending taking place again. With this support and the steps taken, we do say there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation."
Middlehurst - who has one previous conviction for driving matters in 2017 - admitted possession of indecent images, three counts of making indecent images, one of possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of cannabis. He was handed an eight-month imprisonment suspended for two years.
Judge Neil Flewitt also handed him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and a notification requirement lasting the same period. Sentencing, he said: "I'm not going to send you immediately to prison.
"I want you to understand why these offences are serious. They are serious because each of those images you saved on your phone were images of real children being sexually abused.
"These are not victimless offences. People like you watching these images creates a market for further abuse of children, in this case very young girls between the ages of four and 13.
"It went on for quite a long period of time and there was quite a large proportion of videos among these images. There is, however, a lot of mitigation in your case.
"You have only one previous conviction that is irrelevant for these purposes. You have had a troubled upbringing.
"It is perhaps unsurprising in these circumstances that you have had mental health issues and you are seeking to deal with them. You still managed to hold down a job in the family business, and references speak highly of you.
"I do not accept that you did not have any sexual interest in children. It is typical of people in your situation.
"The first step towards rehabilitation is to get you to acknowledge the reasons you committed these offences in the first place. My conclusion is the public would be better served in the long run by addressing these issues and making sure you do not commit any further offences."
Middlehurst must also complete 120 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 60 days. Judge Flewitt imposed a victim surcharge and forfeiture of the phones and drugs.
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