A MAN with Asperger’s has been handed a suspended jail term for possessing indecent images of children.

James Chadwick, 36, was found to have 184 images and 20 movies of children as young as six, many in the worst category, when his home in Palmerston Road was raided in March 2013.

Police also found extreme pornography involving animals. Passing a six month prison sentence suspended for two years at Bournemouth Crown Court on February 26, Judge John Harrow said: “I expect when you viewed these images you didn’t give a moment’s thought to the circumstances in which they were made.

“It is an appalling industry, and of course it is funded by people like you.”

Chadwick, of Hamilton Road, Bournemouth, had admitted possessing indecent images and extreme pornography.

In mitigation, David Richards said his client had been diagnosed with “high-functioning autism” during the investigation.

“For the whole of his life up to May 2013 no one knew the cause of the difficulties he has had all his life was Aspergers,” he said.

He said Chadwick had difficulty interacting with people socially and spent a lot of time playing the online computer game World of Warcraft.

Mr Richards said like others with his condition, Chadwick was “particularly vulnerable” to pornography addiction due to lack of social experience.

“These people are less likely to be predators than victims,” he said.

“They would have greater difficulty than a typical adult in appreciating the perspective of a child in a movie or photo.”

He said the case was delayed after an attempt by the defendant to take his own life.

“That is going to stop him going back to child pornography,” he said.

“He looked through curiosity, it is not something that will be repeated.”

Chadwick was given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order until further notice, and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.