A MAN who had been waiting three years to find out his fate for possessing child pornography images has avoided a spell behind bars .

Aiden James Barr, 26, of Pershore Road, Popley appeared at Winchester Crown on Friday after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of minors, three counts of distributing indecent images and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

Barr was arrested on March 23, 2015 in relation to a separate charge which was later dropped. However, when searching his property, officers found five devices to contain indecent images of children of ages ranging from seven to 12-years-old.

The defendant had obtained the images - which consisted of 140 category A images, 106 category B and 213 category C – between September 4, 2009 and March 24, 2015.

Prosecutor Kelly Brocklehurst told the court it was the distribution of images which concerned police and prosecutors.

He said: “The police had previously questioned Mr Barr over the distribution on May 5, 2013.

“The images had been distributed via the KIK application on his phone, but on an one-to-one basis with one other person rather than a network of people.”

Defending Barr, Alec Williams told the court that compared to other cases of this nature the number of images distributed is “relatively small” saying “it was three category A images [which were distributed], not hundreds.

Mr Williams added that the defendant had “struggled with his mental health” and had become increasingly isolated and left “like he was living in a bubble”.

In sentencing, judge Keith Cutler CBE raised concerns that it had taken three years since Barr’s arrest for him to appear before the court for sentencing, saying “he has probably been thinking about this sentencing for those three years.”

Judge Cutler CBE said: “These are distressing and appalling actions, even if they did happen some time ago.

“I hope that you now realise you have to be very careful with your use of the internet.”

Barr was sentenced to one year to run concurrent with each count, suspended for two years. He was ordered to sign on to the sex offenders register for 10 years and a sexual harm prevention order for the same period of time.

He is also required to complete 15 days of rehabilitation activity days and £425 costs.