A 23-YEAR-OLD man who downloaded child porn was arrested after telling a counsellor that he had been viewing indecent images on the internet, a court heard.

Jane Hunt

A 23-YEAR-OLD man who downloaded child porn was arrested after telling a counsellor that he had been viewing indecent images on the internet, a court heard.

James Cleary had been undergoing psycho-sexual counselling and the police were contacted after he told his counsellor that he was going to Whitby to look after an eight-year-old girl, who was a relative, said Godfried Duah, prosecuting.

Cleary of Turing Court, Kesgrave, admitted 15 offences of making indecent images of children and one offence of possessing indecent images of children.

He was sentenced to a 36 month supervision order, banned from being alone with a female under 16 for three years and ordered to sign on the sex offenders' register.

He was also banned from using a computer without supervision and ordered to pay £300 costs.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that after his arrest police seized a CD containing indecent images of children and further images were found on his computer.

Of the 20 images found, on a scale of one to five with level five being the highest, 13 were at level one, one at level three and six were at level four.

Miss Chatna Patel, for Cleary, said her client had no previous convictions and the offences before the court had come to light because he spoke to his counsellor about his preferences.

She said her client had started by looking at websites featuring small framed females over 18. She said he was disgusted by child pornography and accepted he shouldn't have looked at websites featuring children. “He appreciates his wrong-doing and regrets it,” said Miss Patel.