O’Donovan was made subject to the order and placed on the sex offenders register after he was previously convicted of possession of illegal images in February 2017.

Prosecuting, Martin Lahiffe, told Bournemouth Crown Court said: “They received an address that was sending indecent images on a chat room.

“He was not located at the house but was at a community centre and was arrested on suspicion of those offences.

“Officers carried out a search of his vehicle and they located a portable DVD player in the boot.

“An officer got the DVD from the drive, seized them and had the disc looked at. As a result of the investigation, a series of extreme pornographic movies were discovered on the disc.

“Each movie showed a female performing various sexual acts with a dog.”

In police interview, O’Donovan admitted the DVD player was his and the disc had his handwriting on, but was unaware of the illegal material on the disc.

O’Donovan, of Wyke Road, Weymouth, previously pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of four extreme pornographic films at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on Friday, February 12

O’Donovan was previously convicted in 2008 of making indecent images of children as well as possession of indecent images, before being convicted again for three counts of possession of indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornography of an animal as well as a prohibited image of a child at Bournemouth Crown Court in February 2017.

Judge Robert Pawson questioned why there was a three-and-a-half year period between the initial arrest to charging O’Donovan, describing it as ‘almost unbelievable’.

Sentencing, Judge Pawson, noted how ‘ironic’ it was that O’Donovan previously had a community order lifted ‘for good behaviour’ despite later reoffending on two occasions.

He said: “You were arrested on suspicion of possession of four moving images of showing a woman performing various sexual acts with dogs. It is not suggested that she was forced (to carry out the acts) but people depicted in those images are often victims.

“It is not the first time you have pleaded guilty to similar images as set out by the prosecution, as you had incident images in 2008 and further indecent images in 2017.

“On each occasion, you received a three-year community order. The first one was ironically cancelled due to your good behaviour, but you were then back in court again and convicted.

“There is more than a sniff of you pulling the wool over your probation officer’s eyes.”

Judge Pawson also elaborated on why the delay in sentencing O’Donovan was ‘pretty appalling’, noting its impact on the justice system.

He said: “I do not blame the police as I appreciate they are under pressure in investigating computers, mobile phones but it is almost unbelievable how long it took.

“Anyone accused of an offence should know their fate and three-and-a-half years in passing is nothing short of wholly unreasonable.”

Judge Pawson issued O’Donovan a two-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement.

O’Donovan was also placed on the sex offenders register for seven years and was ordered to pay costs of £350 and £140 victim surcharge.

The DVD player and disc were also forfeited and ordered to be destroyed

Prosecuting, Richard Oakley, told Weymouth Magistrates’ Court that O’Donovan, aged 67, was previously placed on the sex offender’s register in February 2017 after being convicted of possession of illegal images at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He told the court: “Police officers attended his address after they receive a notification that he was involved in further offences.

“A search for O’Donovan was carried out and he was found at a Weymouth community centre and he was subsequently arrested

“His car was located and searched by police officers. During their search, a DVD player was found.

“Inside the player, it was found that a DVD contained films of a female adult performing various sexual acts with a dog.

“He did not know the disc had extreme porn on it, but he accepted it was his disc as it had his handwriting on.”

Mr Oakley noted the DVD contained four films of an adult woman performing sexual acts with a dog.

Mr Oakley added there was a ‘lengthy period’ between O’Donovan’s arrest and charge, but he explained that this was due to analysing the DVD and other files found.

He said: “This is clearly very unfortunate and what I have been told is that there has been a substantial delay in getting the files.

“I think what it was, it wasn’t just the DVD, there were other items that needed to be sent off and analysed.”

He pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of extreme pornographic image or images portraying an act of intercourse with an animal.

O’Donovan was previously convicted of three counts of possession of indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornography of an animal as well as a prohibited image of a child at Bournemouth Crown Court on February 17, 2017.

He was placed on the Sex Offender’s Register indefinitely and issued an indefinite sexual harm prevention order as well as a three-year community order at Bournemouth Crown Court on February 17, 2017.

Due to the limited powers of Weymouth Magistrates’ Court, O’Donovan will be sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, March 12.

He was meanwhile released on unconditional bail.