A BASINGSTOKE pensioner has avoided prison after police found thousands of indecent images of children on his computer.

David Owen Elliott, of Tennyson Way, South Ham, was given a 12-month suspended sentence when he appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, July 8.

The 64-year-old father-of-two pleaded guilty to three counts relating to making and storing indecent images of children between the ages of one and 16-years-old.

Elliott was arrested in June for having more than 3,000 images spread across categories A, B and C stored on his computer and a USB stick, as well as obtaining images from a file sharing website.

A forensic examiner found Elliott had images of young girls posing with animals and images depicting pain kept on his computer.

Prosecutor Russell Payne said: “Mr Elliott was very cooperative with the police giving them passwords to the different devices.

“He had admitted to having images which were deemed category B and C, but examiners later found category A images on the hard drive.”

The court heard that Elliott also had images of extreme pornography as well as thousands of images which police had not categorised.

Defending Elliott, Berenice Mulvanny, said: “He appears in front of the court today a frail and vulnerable 64-year-old.

“He has shown genuine remorse for his behaviour and does not try to justify his actions in anyway.”

Miss Mulvanny added: “He is a low risk of danger to young people and there was no attempt to groom any children.

“Furthermore Mr Elliott has told his wife and two adult children about the ordeal and they have been very supportive of him throughout.”

Sentencing, judge Ignatius Hughes took into account Elliott’s early plea and co-operation with the police, adding: “Having admitted your faults, you are a man now of 64 and are seen as a man of good character.

“This is a chance for you to put behind you this shameful behaviour and make the most of the rest of your life.”

The judge sentenced Elliot to 12 months in prison suspended for two years for three counts of making and sorting 235 category A images, 601 category B images and 2,695 category C images as well as moving images.

He was also issued with a sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.