A YOUNG man who downloaded dozens of movies of child abuse has been spared an immediate jail term, after the court heard he had been addicted to pornography since he was 12.

James Spargo, 22, had been accessing the vile material online for years, a judge was told.

But after hearing he had been out of trouble for almost two years since his arrest, and needed help, judge Sir John Royce imposed a suspended sentence.

Spargo, of Churchill Avenue, Melksham, pleaded guilty on Monday (o0ct 3)to three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing prohibited images.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how police received information suggesting he may have been involved in distributing the images.

When they went to his home in October 2014 he said the defendant accepted that he was responsible for any file sharing taking place on his machines.

His computers and storage media were seized by officers and when he was questioned he said he had started using the file sharing for music and films.

He said he moved on to pornography and then indecent images of children, which he accepted he found sexually gratifying.

Mr Meeke said “It took a long time to get his computers and media analysed. They showed search histories in the usual terms and links with the usual types of site.”

In total he was found to have 39 films of rape and serious sexual abuse, six in the middle category of seriousness ad one at the lower end.

He also had 278 other images, which were mostly cartoons of children being sexually abused, but Mr Meeke said there was no evidence of any distribution.

Nicholas Clough, defending, said “He is an introverted, somewhat immature, young man of good character: an otherwise decent young man who has this problem.

“It started at about 12 years old and he finds it hard to stop. He realises as he gets older it is illegal and a problem. He needs help.”

He said that the pre-sentence report compiled by the probation service contained a suggestion which would do that and keep him in the community.

Passing sentence Sir John Royce said “You became involved in this sort of this activity at quite a young age.

“There came a time when you realised that what you were doing was quite wrong, but you had become addicted to it by that stage. I propose to pass a custodial sentence, but suspend it.

“That would enable you to have in place a system whereby you could get to grips with this problem. It dates back some time because you were arrested in 2014 and it is now 2016.”

He imposed an eight-month jail term suspended for two years with an 18-month supervision order.

The judge also imposed a sexual harm prevention order restricting Spargo's liberty and told him he must register as a sex offender.