A SOUTHAMPTON man downloaded more than 18,000 indecent images of children during lockdown, a court heard.

James Ashman was reported to police following reports of suspicious IP address activity.

Officers seized his devices to find thousands of indecent images of children who were in “discernible pain or distress”.

When interviewed, the 42-year-old of Howard Road, Southampton, admitted downloading the images telling police "I did download some dodgy [stuff] during lockdown".

He added: “I have been such [an] idiot. Why did I do it?”

He appeared at Southampton Crown Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children.

Prosecuting, Richard Martin told how the defendant was caught with 140 category A images, the most severe type, 123 category B images and 18,365 category C images of children.

He added: "There is distress in some of the children’s actions."

All of the images were said to have been found on a single hard drive.

Mr Martin said that all images downloaded should now be destroyed.

But mitigating, Damian Hayes said: “He makes full admissions of what he has done. He has had a considerable time to reflect on what has happened.

“He is willing to do anything to ensure it never happens again.”

But the judge, Nicholas Rowland, told Ashman that his behaviour was “abhorrent” adding: “Each time somebody like you watches this sort of material on the screen it reflects the dreadful abuse that is happening around the world.

“You won’t be so fortunate on the next occasion.”

Ashman was handed a three-year community order and ordered to do 15 rehabilitation activity days.

He must complete 200 hours of unpaid work and is now subject to a five-year sexual prevention order.

Ashman who has no previous convictions must also pay £300 costs and a surcharge.

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