A PENSIONER downloaded indecent images of children, some of the worst possible kind, out of ‘morbid curiosity’.

David Twilley, from Hereford, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornographic material when he appeared before his honour judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC at Worcester Crown Court.

The 69-year-old of Whitecross Road had four images at category A (the most serious category), 80 at category B and 1,106 at category C. He also had in his possession seven extreme pornographic images.

Timothy Sapwell, prosecuting, said a search was carried out at Twilley’s home on April 19, 2015 when a laptop, memory card and hard drive were seized by police.

He said: “When arrested Mr Twilley was co-operative with the police. He in fact told them where the items were that would have images on them.

“He said he had downloaded the images accidentally while looking for other pornography. He had viewed them a few times out of morbid curiosity.”

Paul Cook, defending, stressed his client’s early guilty plea.

Judge Pearce-Higgins, sentencing, described Twilley as a man of previous good character who had co-operated and pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.

He said: “In my judgement this doesn’t pass the custody threshold.”

Judge Pearce-Higgins described the recommendations made in a pre-sentence report by the probation service as ‘eminently sensible’.

The judge imposed an 18 month community order with 25 days of rehabilitation activities and a sexual harm prevention order which remain in force for the next five years.

This prohibits Twilley from using any device capable of accessing the internet unless it has the capacity to display a search history.

He must also make that device available to police on request.