A CHILD porn dealer from East Lancashire, who was caught with indecent images of infants as young as three months old being abused, has been jailed for two years.

Christopher Moores, 58, came to court with a testimonial from his local priest, the Rev Stephen Brown, and had no previous convictions, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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But Moores was caught by Lancashire Police with 5,000 indecent images of youngsters on his computer equipment, after a raid staged last November, the court heard.

Jailing him, Judge Simon Newell said: “These are the most depraved, horrific and appalling acts that one could commit on a child.”

Moores was told by the judge that his offending was “not a victimless crime”, with every still image or video in his collection stemming from the abuse of a child somewhere in the UK or beyond.

Moores, of Manchester Road, Haslingden, who pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images and one charge of distributing child pornography.

He was also served with a sexual harm prevention order, lasting 10 years, restricting his internet usage, and he must sign the sex offenders’ register over the same period.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said that officers recovered four devices from the defendant’s home, which when analysed were found to contain 961 indecent images at the most serious level.

Another 1,092 pictures or videos were said to be at the second most serious grading and 3,071 depicted children in sexual poses, amassed over a seven-year period.

She told the court that according to a statement from a detective, there were children as young as three months old depicted in the images.

The majority of the indecent material involved boys and girls aged nine to 11.

Moores later confessed to a fellow pervert, in an online chat, that he had a liking for children in uniform, the court heard.

Richard Taylor, defending, said there were a number of documents which had been placed before the court demonstrating his client’s positive character, including one from the Rev Stephen Brown, which did not condone the defendant’s behaviour in any way but offered the church’s support in future.

The court heard Moores had been the carer for two sick parents and had used his internet browsing as an “illicit escape”, not appreciating initially the seriousness of his actions.