A former soldier from Suffolk who was found in possession of more than 5,000 indecent images and videos of children as young as one has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Police seized a laptop and mobile phone from Ian McAllister’s home in Wangford in 2018 after receiving information about indecent images on the internet linked to his email account.
When the phone and laptop were analysed they were found to contain a total of 598 still indecent images of children and 106 movies in the most serious level A category, 412 indecent images and 30 movies in category B and 4,225 indecent images and 16 videos in the lowest level C category.
McAllister, 35, of Norfolk Road, Wangford, admitted three offences of making indecent photographs of children and one offence of possessing a prohibited image of a child.
He was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years, a 50-day rehabilitation activity requirement, 120 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £340 costs.
He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.
The court heard that McAllister’s partner had left him and taken their child abroad and his mother had disowned him because of the offences.
He was now living in a caravan and had tried to take his own life.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here