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A former police special constable was caught with more than 13,000 vile images of children – including babies being raped.
Perverted David Andrews, aged 65, also collected extreme animal pornography such as a woman having sex with a horse.
Former Royal Mail worker Andrews claimed in police interview that he saw no harm in what he was doing – even though it fuels the sexual abuse of children.
But Andrews, a former special constable with the Devon and Cornwall Police, walked free from Plymouth Crown Court because of delays and charging decisions in the case.
Judge Robert Linford said there was evidence that Andrews had distributed the images, which is a far more serious offence.
Andrews, from Ivybridge, appeared for sentencing almost two and a half years after police received information he was downloading images showing children being sexually abused.
(Image: Erin Black)
He was caught with almost 4,000 Category A photographs, downloaded over almost four years.
Handing him a suspended prison sentence, the judge said: “In interview you said you believed you were doing no harm to the children you were viewing. That is nonsense. If people like you did not view this abuse then it would not be perpetrated.”
The judge read descriptions of some of the images which said babies as young as one and two were being raped by men.
Judge Linford added: “You also told the probation service that you got no sexual gratification from the images you were viewing. I reject that completely. That is complete nonsense”.
He said that search terms used by Andrews proved he was looking for pictures of young children being raped.
(Image: Avalon.red)
Andrews pleaded guilty to possession of 3,974 Category A images between 2014 and 2018.
He also admitted having 3,193 Category B images and 5,936 in Category C.
Andrews, of Risdon Drive, Ivybridge, also pleaded guilty to having 30 extreme pornographic images, including the horse picture.
He finally admitted having 30 prohibited images of children, which are normally drawings.
Ali Rafati, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said police received information that someone at Andrews’ home was accessing Category A indecent images in February 2017.
(Image: File image)
He added that his then address at Paddock Drive in Ivybridge was searched on January 30 last year and the images were found on his computers.
Mr Rafati said Andrews admitted accessing indecent images and posing as a 14-year-old girl online.
Jason Beal, for the defendant, asked for the judge to take the delay into account when imposing his sentence.
He added that Andrews had paid for counselling himself in the meantime.
Mr Beal said that his client had now realised the impact that viewing online images had on children around the world.
He added that Andrews had worked for the Royal Mail for 40 years before he was laid off and was now looking after his mentally-ill wife.
Judge Linford handed Andrews a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years. He must do 35 days of intensive probation supervision.
Andrews must sign the Sex Offender Register for a decade and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period, which will allow police to monitor his internet use.
