A MAN has been jailed for 13 months after a court heard he had tens of thousands of indecent images of children stored on his computer.

Gordon Milburn, of Kimbolton Close, Freshbrook, downloaded the vile pictures, some showing abuse of young children and babies, for more than a decade.

A judge at Swindon Crown Court heard the 42-year-old, who had few friends and no partner, spent much of his spare time online where he found the material.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, said Milburn came to the attention of the police in 2011 following information from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

Raids were carried out on his home and a work address in Cambridge. A number of computers and storage media were seized from his house and found to contain the huge horde of material.

She said he had 18,000 images at level one, the lowest, about 600 at level two, 2,000 at three, nearly the same at four and more than 100 at the worst, level five.

The court was told that Milburn only pleaded guilty on the basis that he had 16,900 images.

Miss Marlow said that many of the images were of children under the age of thirteen and included babies who were just ‘months old’. Officers also found extreme pornography involving adults and animals as well as prohibited images showing indecent cartoons of children.

Milburn pleaded guilty to 17 counts of making and one of possessing indecent images of children. He also admitted possessing extreme pornography and possessing prohibited images of children.

Melanie Benn, defending, said her client had a ‘disrupted childhood’, continually moving around as his father was in the forces. As a consequence he never formed any friendships as he knew they would soon get broken, and that continued into adult life.

As well as the jail term Milburn must register as a sex offender for 10 years and also be on a sexual offences prevention order, restricting his liberty.