A PURBECK man has admitted having more than 40,000 indecent images of children.

Clifford Thomas, of Ropers Lane in Wareham, entered guilty pleas to 12 counts of possessing indecent images and three counts of making indecent images.

Appearing at Bournemouth Crown Court, Thomas denied one further charge of making indecent images, which related to 118,721 images seized by police and not included within the other charges.

Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott said the images listed in this count had not been checked over by officers and there were no plans to do so, and that the guilty pleas entered were deemed sufficient by the Crown Prosecution Service.

"The pleas he makes in the other counts are acceptable, count 16 can be dealt with at a later date," he said.

The 34-year-old had both still and moving images in his possession, said to have been downloaded or printed from the internet between January and June 2013 at his home address.

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

Judge John Harrow warned the defendant, who spoke in court only to state his pleas, that there was a "strong possibility" he would receive a custodial sentence for his crimes.

He adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report to be prepared, and directed Thomas to return to court on July 10 for sentencing. He was released on unconditional bail, but ordered to register as a sex offender with his local police station.