A MAN stored more than 15,000 images of child sex abuse on his home computer, a court has heard.

Darren Rogers, 31, spent 10 years scouring the internet for images of minors.

Rogers then meticulously logged and catalogued the images, including the abuse of a girl under the age of three, on his computer, Swindon Crown Court heard yesterday.

He was finally snared after police raided his Swindon home in Wavell Road, Pinehurst, in March 2011.

Of the images, 14,307 were classed as level one (children in sexualised poses but not sexual activity) 655 were level two, five were level three, while 63 were level four. The level four material comprised of 11 movies and 52 images, of which 21 were extreme.

One of the movies was of a girl of about 11 or 12 and lasted for 14 minutes, the court heard.

Alex Daymont, mitigating, told how his client had attended seminars to address his offending, and how he had become depressed while waiting two years for his case to conclude. He also pointed out Rogers had pleaded guilty and was in employment.

But Judge Ambrose told him: “For 10 years you had been searching the internet and downloading indecent images of children for your own sexual gratification.”

The judge said the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

He said: “Each image represents a real child being abused; the animated images aside.

“You are not the direct abuser, but by searching out this material, you and others provide the interest that stimulates the abuse.”

Rogers showed no emotion as he was jailed for 10 months. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and banned from working with children. His computer was also confiscated.

Rogers had pleaded guilty to possession of indecent photos (15,030), possession of extreme pornography and possession of a prohibited image of a child.