A PAEDOPHILE stored more than 1,000 images of naked children and sick sexual abuse on his tablet computer.

Lee Poulter was arrested by police who found child sex abuse images in Crawley.

The 50-year-old kept them among his stash of 180,000 adult pornographic images, a court heard. He had an “addiction” to pornography which became more extreme.

It was revealed he had three category A images of children being sexually abused by adults, two category B images, and more than 1,000 category C images.

The paedophile had first downloaded an indecent image in December 2017, and thereafter had made searches for children as young as ten, it was revealed.

At Brighton Crown Court, Poulter was told he would be on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Judge Shani Barnes imposed a one-year suspended sentence and told him to complete 40 hours of unpaid community service.

Christopher Prior, prosecuting, said police were alerted to Poulter’s IP internet address in November last year.

When officers arrived Poulter told them where he had stored the images and said goodbye to his family as he was arrested.

“I’ve been downloading things I was not meant to, I’m sorry,” he told police.

“Between you and me, I have not touched anyone, I’m so sorry.”

Mr Prior said Poulter searched for images of children as young as ten to satisfy his sick fantasies.

The category A images, among the worst type of sexual abuse images possible, showed children being sexually abused.

One image was estimated to show a girl aged between four and eight years old, Mr Prior said.

Andrew Stephens, defending, said the time period suggested Poulter was gripped by a “severe addiction” to pornography for “many, many years”.

He said his client had been honest and had admitted possessing the indecent images and has now referred himself for help.

Judge Barnes described how the images showed “gratuitous distress of children being used”.

She pointed out that it is because of paedophiles like Poulter downloading the images that they are made in the first place, allowing abusers to cash in.

Poulter, of Mathey Place, Crawley, said he now understands the harm he caused.

Judge Barnes said: “One tortured child is one too many. To have three, including one of children being forced by adults to abuse each other is horrendous.”

Poulter must also complete 30 sessions at the Maps for Change programme.

The NSPCC, a charity which campaigns and supports victims of abuse responded to the sentence .

The charity said: "Poulter has actively encouraged a vile trade that thrives on the suffering of children.

“Law enforcement cannot solve this problem alone. Big tech must also be made to use their expertise and resources to quickly remove this terrible content from their platforms and identify who put it there in the first place.”