A former head teacher from Saffron Walden who was found with “horrific” child abuse images has avoided jail.

Miraz Triggs, 46, of Ickleton Road, Elmdon, was charged with three offences of making indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornography, possession of prohibited images of children and distribution of indecent images of children.

He pleaded guilty to the crimes at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on December 19 last year.

Appearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday, Triggs was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for making Category A images, 12 months for making Category B images, and six months each for making and distributing Category C images. He was also given a month for possession of prohibited images.

All sentences were suspended for two years.

Triggs was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and pay £425 in court costs.

He is now the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and a 50 day rehabilitation requirement.

Detective Constable Paul Ross, who led the investigation, said: “Every time an indecent image of a child is viewed or distributed online, that child continues to be exploited.

“Triggs is a 46-year-old man who at the time of his arrest had been working in a position of trust as a secondary school teacher, for around two decades.

“We cannot and will not tolerate this type of crime and we will continue to use all the tools available to us to proactively target those committing these despicable offences.

“This is a direct message to those, like Triggs, who have downloaded, viewed or distributed indecent images of children.

“I urge you to consider the terrible harm your behaviour is causing to children.

“As in this case, we will catch up with you and ensure you are accountable for your actions in a court of law.”

Children’s charity the NSPCC has also denounced Triggs’ behaviour.

A spokesman said: “As a teacher Triggs should have protected young people but instead he took sordid pleasure in material depicting horrific abuse of innocent children.

“Every image is a crime scene with a vulnerable victim who will need support to recover and he participated in this abuse by fuelling such a hideous trade.

“Treatment and rehabilitation programmes are vital if we are to lessen the risk offenders like Triggs pose in the future.”