A man who spent many hours downloading child pornography onto a computer at his Shalford home was jailed for eight months on Thursday.
Alan Wallace, 56, of Cambridge Road, Puckeridge, Herts, admitted 16 charges of making and six of possessing indecent images of children.
Samantha Leigh, prosecuting, said police found the images on a computer at Wallace’s former home in Church End, Shalford, when they arrived with a search warrant on April 17 last year.
Experts calculated it would have taken Wallace up to 39 hours to collect all the images and film clips. A total of 72 images were found. One of them was level 5, the most serious category and 26 were level four.
Allison Munro, mitigating, said Wallace now appreciated that viewing and downloading child pornography perpetuated the abuse of children.
Miss Munro said, “His reputation is shot to pieces. There is no liklihood of him offending in this way again.”
Judge Rodger Hayward Smith Q.C. extended Wallaces’ licence. This means that if he offends again in the next two years he could be sent back to prison.
Wallace was also put on Sex Offenders Register for 10 years. The judge placed a restraining order on him banning him from viewing child porn on internet for 10 years.
