A Clevedon man whose ‘unfortunate desires’ saw him collect tens of thousands of pictures of children as young as six has been jailed.

Terrence Hayward, aged 71, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of making 31,583 indecent images of children and 324 movies.

Hayward, of Cherry Avenue, was handed an 18-month prison sentence at Bristol Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday) and was handed a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely.

Judge James Patrick said Hayward's sexual interest in children was 'so entrenched' that he had 'little understanding' of the affect it has and had on the children who were being sexually assaulted.

He added: "They would have known they were being filmed or photographed for the sexual gratification of people like Hayward.

"The abuse is bad enough without knowing people watch them for their own gratification."

Alex Daymond, prosecuting, said: "Police in the UK were informed in 2017 of the defendant's IP address being used to offer to share indecent images of children.

"It was flagged up by the USA's National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Police searched Hayward's home in December 2017.

"Three hard drives and six CDs were taken for scientific examination which revealed both still and moving images of children."

The police uncovered images dating back to July 2005 to November 2017, ranging from 2,309 category A images - the worst - to 26,575 category C images.

Hayward also had 324 movies of children being sexually abused. The images were of multiple female victims aged six to 12 years old.

The defendant was interviewed by police where he claimed some of the images were already on the equipment when he bought it, but officers saw through the lie.

Harry Ahuja, defending, told the court Hayward did not have the option to attend courses when he had previously offended for similar crimes in 1974 and in 1999 and urged the judge to consider a suspended sentence with a rehabilitation requirement.

He said: "He has been very candid and open in his pre-sentence report about his unfortunate desires and attraction to children.

"He has already completed an online course with the Lucy Faithful Foundation."