A gas fitter who used his home computer to download indecent photographs of children was spared jail yesterday.
Mark Waters was among more than 60 people arrested across the North-East as part of Operation Ore, a worldwide FBI-led crackdown on internet paedophile pornography.
Waters, 32, of Earls Drive, Gateshead, admitted two charges of making indecent photographs of children on dates in August and October last year.
He was given a three-year community rehabilitation order with a condition of sex offender treatment and ordered to pay pounds 715 court costs.
Waters, of previous good character, must also register as a sex offender for five years.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the offences came to light when police armed with a search warrant raided Waters’ home and seized his computer.
Judge Beatrice Bolton said she accepted the images found on his computer were by and large at the lower end of the scale of seriousness.
She told him: “I am concerned about the risk you pose of committing further offences of this sort.
“It seems to me you need some help from the probation service and you need to focus yourself on what the sexual boundaries are.”
