PAEDOPHILE pal 'Mike from Swindon' found his number was up after he was involved in a minor car crash.

Michael Moxon told officers to call him on his mobile phone following the accident early last year.

But when they put the 70-year-old's number into their system they discovered it matched the unknown contact who had been involved in the trade of indecent pictures of children.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the case started in Wales in October 2017 where a man was investigated for possessing the vile material.

A paedophile from Neath had left a memory card in Boots and when it was examined it was found to be loaded with images of child abuse.

Following his arrest his phone was examined and one of the contacts he was communicating with was listed as Mike from Swindon.

Mr Meeke said it seemed likely images were sent by him to the Welshman but what was clear was that he had received some.

The details were sent to Wiltshire police but because the phone was not registered they were unable to track down the user.

"As chance would have it this defendant was involved in a road traffic accident and gave the police his mobile phone number," he said.

The number he gave the police was the one for 'Mike from Swindon', leading officers to his door.

After he was arrested they seized his computer where they found his collection of pictures of child abuse. It was also found that he had sent two more images to different correspondents in the first half of 2017.

Moxon, of Ferndale Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing indecent images of children, one of distribution and having extreme pornography of bestiality.

The court heard that the pensioner had no previous convictions and the probation service felt he could be dealt with in society.

Passing sentence Judge Robert Pawson said "Over the course of the last 20 years you have led a slightly sad life. You are assessed of being a low risk of harm.

"What the court wants to more than anything else is that you stop and don't access these images, much less distribute them.

"There are a low number of images but one could be suspicious of thinking the reason it was a low number was you covered your tracks."

He imposed a two year community order with 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and 200 hours of unpaid work.