A MAN was found with a huge collection of indecent images of children, including some of the most “depraved” seen by police and a judge, a court heard.

Jon Pinkerton was jailed for two years and eight months.

Judge Christopher Prince, who viewed some of the offending material with police investigators prior to the case, said he found it: “Profoundly disturbing to have to watch.”

Pinkerton came to the attention of Durham Police amid inquiries by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Service (CEOPS)

Police removed a number of electronic devices from Pinkerton, including two hard drives, in October last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that on examination, a total of 5,536 indecent images of children, were found, all downloaded between February 2013 and last October.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, said of these, more than 1,000 were ranked in the most serious level for such material, while there was also more than 95 hours of moving images, which were, similarly, given category A ranking.

A further 72,000 still and moving images on the hard drives were not examined, due to the time it would have taken investigators, but Jane Waugh, representing Pinkerton, said most of these were non-offensive personal and family material.

Mr Baker said when interviewed, the defendant admitted going on websites to view the offending images, admitting having an addiction to pornography of all types.

He confirmed he may have distributed images in the past, having uploaded some onto the Twitter network.

But Miss Waugh said he only uploaded material when drunk and immediately deleted them.

She said he had made “full and frank” admissions to police when questioned.

“Having reached the age of 50 and led a law-abiding life, he is also someone who was well thought of at work.

“He is the first to say that he knows what he has done is abhorrent, but he felt compelled to it, at the time.”

Miss Waugh said the defendant, himself, had a troubled background, and went looking for these images when drinking to excess.

She added that he retains the support of his family and has already taken steps to overcome his predilections.

Fifty-year-old Pinkerton, of Moray Close, Peterlee, admitted three counts of either possessing or making indecent images of children, plus one of possessing extreme pornography.

Judge Prince said: “These images are significantly worse than any I and the police have encountered.”

He said due to the “exceptional degree of depravity” he would sentence at a starting point above recommended guidelines.

After a trial it would have been four years, but due to Pinkerton’s early admissions and previous good character he reduced the ultimate sentence by a third, to one of 32 months in prison.

The defendant was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, of unlimited length, plus registration as a sex offender, for life.