A pervert banned from using the internet at home was able to view sickening child abuse images on a public library computer.

Blasted as ‘incorrigible’ by a Judge, Peter Carruthers, 44, was caught looking at the ‘most shocking’ material in April this year as he sat in front of a computer screen at Kempston Library.

Luton Crown Court heard on Tuesday that he had gone to the library on April 13 because he was forbidden from using the internet at home under the terms of a sexual offences prevention order.

Robert Colover, prosecuting, said Carruthers was in an area where other members of the public were present, including children.

Staff at the library called the police after the worrying find and he was arrested.

When police went to his home in Bartram Court, High Street, Kempston, they discovered more images on a computer there.

A subsequent examination of his memory stick and a computer back at his home found that Carruthers had amassed around 5,500 child sex abuse images.

Most were still pictures, but some were movie clips and Judge John Bevan QC, hearing the case, was told that some of the images represented the most shocking material available on the internet.

Carruthers had previous offences in 2002 and 2005 concerning the making of indecent images of youngsters and he had been subject to a sex offences prevention order forbidding him access to the internet at home.

Derek Johashen, defending, said Carruthers had not been aware of any children being around when he was on the computer in the library.

The lawyer said: “He has been the victim of sexual abuse himself when he was young.

“He knows how children in these situations feel. He can’t explain why he has become involved in this sort of offending.” Judge Bevan told him: “You are, in my judgement, incorrigible.

“You have an entrenched and, at the moment, incurable desire to watch images of boys up to 13 and in one case a baby being abused and corrupted.

“It is not a victimless crime because you and your like provide a market.” Carruthers pleaded guilty to a total of 23 offences of making indecent images of children, one offence of having indecent images and two of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

He was jailed for a total of four-anda- half years and ordered that his name go on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

Carruthers was also made the subject of a new sexual prevention order which will restrict his access to the internet.

A Bedford Borough Council spokesman said: “Everyone who uses a library computer within the borough has to agree to an ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ before they can go online, and there are filtering/monitoring systems in place to help avoid people accessing unsuitable sites.

“We work with all agencies to tackle those who persist in inappropriate and illegal use of library computers.”