A SUSSEX man has been jailed for nine months after National Crime Agency officers found more than 15,000 pictures and videos of child sex abuse on his computers.

Tony Aslett, aged 52 and from Pagham, pleaded guilty to seven counts of making indecent images of children when he appeared at Kingston Crown Court.

Some of the victims in his collection appeared to be as young as 18 months old.

Aslett was arrested at Buckingham Palace, where he worked as a visitor services warden, on 27 April 2015.

Throughout the investigation Aslett's employer cooperated fully and there was no evidence linking his offending to his place of work.

NCA officers had earlier searched Aslett’s home on 19 March 2015 and recovered two laptops, three USB storage devices and a computer tower.

Analysis showed they all contained indecent images of children.

When officers conducted another search on 27 April 2015 they discovered Aslett had since bought a white Acer tablet which also contained abuse images.

In total, his devices contained 15,116 indecent images and videos of child abuse at levels A (the most serious), B and C.

Analysis showed the indecent images were created between 2009 and 2015.

Aslett’s ex-partner told investigators he spent a lot of evenings alone in his bedroom.

He was charged in December 2015 but repeatedly argued he was unfit to stand trial.

In interview, Aslett remained silent.

NCA branch commander Mark McCormack said: “Aslett repeatedly claimed he was too ill to stand trial.

“He owned all the devices that contained the depraved images and had amassed his collection over several years.

“People like Aslett are directly responsible for perpetuating the physical abuse of defenceless children by viewing and copying the images and videos.”

Aslett was also given a sexual harm prevention order and forfeiture order for the destruction of his electronic devices.

Child protection charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else’s behaviour towards children.