A SEX offender was caught with hundreds of images of children as young as five being abused on his computer.

Burnley Crown Court heard how 41-year-old Dean Walton had searched for "pre-teen" and "pre-teen sex" on his computer.

When interviewed by police on the same day they had seized computer equipment from his house in Burnley Road, Padiham, he provided a pre-prepared statement.

Prosecutor David Clarke told the court in it he admitted watching adult pornography but if they found any material containing children he did not know how it would have got there.

Mr Clarke said: "In the early hours of November 12, 2014, police executed a search warrant at the defendant's house in Burnley Road as part of operation Toledo.

"A number of electronic items were seized from the lounge, bedroom and loft.

"The defendant was interviewed that day and provided a pre-prepared statement. He explained if there were any images of children engaging in sexual activity he had no idea how they would have got there. He accepted he accessed adult content almost every other day."

Mr Clarke said the electronic devices were sent for analysis but it wasn't until October 2015 when the results came back.

Twelve were of the most serious category A, 15 were category B and 484 were category C. There were no moving images found.

Mr Clarke said all the images had been accessed between March 2009 and November 2014 and had been deleted by Walton.

The court was told Mr Walton claimed some of the images had been downloaded when he clicked on Torrent links labelled something else.

Defending, James Heyworth said: "Mr Walton is of previous good character. He is someone, in my submission, who is very unlikely to come back before the courts again."

Walton, who has no previous conviction, pleaded guilty to making indecent images and possessing indecent images.

Walton was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, told to attend an internet sex offender's programme and made subject of a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement. He was also made subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the Sex Offender's Register for ten years.

Judge Beverley Lunt said: "You didn't plead guilty at the first available opportunity and not for quite some time. That's an aggravating feature in this case when you knew you had searched for these very specific terms. Those were the searches that were put in and produced these images.

"It is of concern to me that you are still not confronting your guilt and your crimes."