A PAEDOPHILE who “collected” more than 360,000 indecent images of children was downloading files when police raided his home to arrest him.

Adrian Brown was not at his address in South Street, Wareham when officers executed a warrant following an investigation into file-sharing networks.

Detectives searching the property found a computer which had been covered with a piece of cardboard.

When they pulled the cardboard away, they discovered the defendant had started downloading more graphic images of children before leaving his address.

Further investigations of two laptops and three hard drives seized revealed that Brown, 52, had downloaded hundreds of thousands of images and films over the course of 11 years.

While the majority of the files – some 361,589 images and 423 videos – were in category C, the defendant also had 26 images and 140 videos in category A. One video of abuse owned by Brown was an hour and a half long.

Sadie Rizzo, prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, said Brown said young girls were “gorgeous” during police interview.

“He described himself as someone who collects images,” Ms Rizzo said.

Mitigating, Andrew Stone said Brown’s offences are a “source of deep shame for him”.

“It’s an extraordinary number of documents,” he said.

“I have tried to calculate the percentage of what each category represents.

“Category A represents 0.04 per cent of the overall total. Category C represents 99.86 per cent.

“I ask to proceed with this as if we were dealing with a category C case.”

However, Judge Peter Johnson said: “If that was a logical position, someone found with a million category A images and a billion category C images would be dealt with as category C.”

Mr Stone said: “The point I am trying to make is that this man is by nature a collector.

“He has a compulsion that he must collect.

“That is what he has done with these images.

“There is a background of absolute cooperation and honesty with the authorities.”

Calling for the judge not to impose a prison sentence, Mr Stone said Brown’s “primary motivation” in downloading the images “was to view the bodies of young girls, which he found beautiful”.

“He was not motivated to view category A and B images – he was motivated to view the 99.9 per cent of images that he did download,” Mr Stone said.

“He is deeply ashamed and remorseful.”

However, Judge Johnson said the defendant had downloaded a “remarkable number of indecent images of children”.

“There was something in excess of a third of a million,” he told Brown.

“It is said you were obsessed with collecting, although you accept that was not your primary motivation.

“Your primary motivation was to view images of young children performing sexual acts or while naked.”

Brown, who has no previous convictions, admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

He was sentenced to eight months in prison and a 12-month supervision order after he is released from custody.

He will also be subject to a notification requirement and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.