A FATHER-OF-EIGHT from Colne caught with nearly 20,000 child porn images on his computer claimed he was investigating a shadowy cabal alleged to control world affairs.

Alan Greaves, 45, insisted he was probing the ‘Illuminati’ after police found a stash of still and moving indecent images on a storage device at his Blasconmay Square home, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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Jailing him for 21 months, Judge Simon Newell said there appeared to be sexually-explicit images of females aged just 10, or younger, which had assembled over a three-year period.

“If it was not for people viewing these images, there would be a chance these children would not be harmed,” he said.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said police executed a search warrant at Greaves’ home in September 2013 and found the images on storage device no larger than a cigarette packet.

Further analysis showed there were 694 indecent stills at the most serious level, 872 at the next-highest and 17,821 other pornographic images.

One hundred and six indecent ‘movies’ were also recovered.

Laura Barbour, defending, said she had been instructed the reason Greaves had the images on his computer was because he was conducting an investigation on the ‘Illuminati’.

He believed the group ‘disseminates’ such material and that is how images ended up on his computer, the court heard.

“He told police he has no interest in children sexually in any way,” added Miss Barbour.

The court was told the defendant, who has children aged around 30 to two-years-old, was also a full-time carer for his disabled sister. Greaves, who pleaded guilty to two offences of making indecent images was given a sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the sex offenders’ register for the next 10 years. He is also barred from working with children.