A TEENAGE computer enthusiast who was found with more than 210 child sexual abuse videos and nearly 800 still images on his laptop computer and other devices has been spared jail so he can seek help.

Joshua McConachie was first told about websites containing indecent images of children when he was just 17, via a chat-room, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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And when the former IT worker turned 18 he downloaded hundreds of obscene videos and pictures of children engaged in sexual activity, some as young as five or six, the court heard.

McConachie, formerly of Townsley Street, Nelson, admitted a number of charges involving the making of indecent images and their possession.

He was given a 12-month youth offenders’ institution term, suspended for two years.

Probation officers will also supervise him for two years and he must sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. An order banning him from deleting his search history was also made.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said information was passed to the police’s child exploitation section that a computer at an address in the area was being used to download indecent images.

Police contacted the service provider, Virgin Media, and the computer’s identification address was traced to a shared home. When police raided the property there was a female tenant present who knew nothing about such pictures.

The court heard that officers seized a laptop, pen drive and storage card, on which were found 120 indecent videos of children and 404 similar images, with another 400 related pictures and 96 videos, with less-explicit material. McConachie was arrested later.

Ms Kehoe added: “He fully admitted that he was in possession of these items and that he downloaded them.”

Philip Holden, defending, said his client was an adolescent when he found out about such websites and the defendant confessed there was an element of “experimentation and curiosity”.

The court heard he had been aroused by images of some of the older girls portrayed in the material but Judge Andrew Woolman, who viewed sample files, said it was clear some youngsters were aged only five or six.

Passing sentence, Judge Woolman added: “Hopefully you are not confirmed in your desire to seek out these kind of disgusting images.”