A PERVERT who had tens of thousands of images showing the abuse of children on his computer wept in the dock as he was jailed for nine months.

Clifford Thomas, of Ropers Lane in Wareham, was lying asleep in bed when officers from Dorset Police raided the home he shared with his parents in June 2013.

A judge at Bournemouth Crown Court heard that the now 35-year-old was cautioned when he awoke, and "immediately" told police that he had been sent a large file of images "ages ago", which he had looked through.

"It was full of it - child pornography," he told officers, adding: "It's not my thing."

However, the computer was seized and examined by investigators, who discovered the images date from between February 1 2013 and June 5 2013.

Carolyn Branford-Wood, prosecuting, said: "The defendant's initial assertion that he received all the images in one zipped file is inaccurate."

A total of 58 category A, 66 category B and 40,568 category C moving and still images were discovered on the PC, some featuring children as young as three or four.

Thomas also owned a 22 minute long movie depicting the abuse of children.

In mitigation, the court heard that Thomas, an amateur weather forecaster, feels "self-loathing" for his offending behaviour, and has been in healthy relationships before.

Thomas entered guilty pleas to 12 counts of possessing indecent images and three counts of making indecent images at an earlier hearing.

One of the 'making' charges comprised 40,564 images in total.

He denied one further charge of making indecent images, which related to 118,721 images seized by police and not included within the other charges.

This was accepted by prosecutors, and a formal not guilty verdict was given.

Judge John Harrow told the defendant: "You no doubt sat in your room in front of your computer and obtained sexual gratification from viewing the images, both still and moving, of sexual acts between adults and children - sometimes children as young as three or four.

"I doubt if it crossed your mind for one minute how those films and images came to be made. They probably came from the other side of the world - young children forced to perform these disgusting acts and to be filmed in the process."

Thomas, who wept throughout the sentence hearing, kept his eyes tightly shut as Judge Harrow told him he would spend nine months behind bars for his offending.

"They are victims - they are real victims," the judge said.

"When people like you are caught, they have to face the inevitable consequences."

Thomas will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite time.