A man who scoured the internet for films and pictures of children being raped has been spared jail.

Peter Goddard put terms including 'little girl rape' into search engines as he looked for the vile material to download.

And when he was arrested he insisted he got no sexual gratification from the hoard of material found saved on his laptop.

But after hearing he had started seeking help for his problems and is the sole breadwinner for his family a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court police received intelligence that he had been downloading the material.

In March this year they went to his Melksham home and seized the laptop which had file sharing software on it.

She said there were two films, one of 11 minutes and the other 14 and a half minutes long, and seven pictures at the worst level, and two of each in the middle category.

The search terms used by him included 'little girl rape', 'teen underage sex' and 'kiddie incest'.

Because he denied what he had done, saying the material was found by accident, his wife had to be interviewed by police.

Goddard, who gave the court his sister's address in Bristol, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme porn.

Mike Pulsford, defending, said he now accepted he had a sexual interest in children and was doing a course from the Lucy Faithful Foundation.

He said his wife was standing by him and aside from benefits for their autistic son there was no other income for the family.

Passing sentence Judge Robert Pawson said "Somewhere Mr Goddard on the planet an eight-year-old child was blindfolded and raped for the sexual satisfaction of people like you.

"And your downloading of these images contributes directly to other people making these images, so you are directly responsible for the mental and physical harm caused to children by the sexual abuse."

He imposed a 12 month jail term suspended for two years with 40 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He must also pay £500 in costs and abide by a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, the same period for which he must register as a sex offender.