A convicted paedophile was caught with more than 62,000 indecent images of babies and pre-teenage children.

Derek Gordon McInnes was found with thousands of images across three devices when police raided his home.

Officers who searched his devices found a total of 62,951 indecent images.

Of these images, 5,586 were Category A – the most serious, while 6,256 were Category B and 51,080 were Category C.

A total of 26 prohibited images – those depicting indecent images of children in cartoon form – as well as three extreme pornography images were also discovered.

Officers raided McInnes’ home in Luccombe Road, Southampton, after information was supplied linked to an IP address in relation to the download of indecent images of children.

A tablet, a desktop computer, and a laptop were seized and he was arrested at the scene.

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The 57-year-old pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates Court on March 28 to possession of a wide-range of indecent images of children and images depicting extreme pornography – including the use of animals.

He appeared before Southampton Crown Court today and was handed a 20-month custodial sentence suspended for two years.

He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years, was made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and, told to conduct 200 hours of community service.

PC Ollie Green from the internet child abuse team led the investigation.

He said: “McInnes possessed an extremely large collection of indecent images of children stored on his devices and some depicted acts of beastiality and extreme pornography.

“He clearly poses a risk to children and will have strict conditions imposed upon him as part of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will continued to be monitored as part of being on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next 10 years.

“Whilst this has not resulted in a custodial sentence, I hope this investigation highlights our commitment to keeping children in our communities safe across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and that we will do everything we can to ensure offenders are put before the courts.”

McInnes, from James Green Road in Coventry, was also required to forfeit his computer and mobile devices and pay £425 court costs.