THE NSPCC have condemned a man who was given a suspended sentence after admitting being in possession of nearly 1,800 indecent images of children.

David Reid, 74, formerly of West Street in Odiham, was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, after police raided his home and found images and videos of children as young as one year old.

Reacting to the news of Reid’s sentencing, the NSPCC released a statement condemning his actions.

“For each of these awful images to be created, a child has been horrifically abused.

“Reid has helped to fuel this hideous trade and we hope the rehabilitation he will now receive will lessen the risk of him offending in the future.”

Passing sentence, Judge Susan Evans said on Friday that the children he had watched in child abuse films had "suffered long-term physical and emotional harm".

"One of the reasons they suffer is because you are the market," she said.

Winchester Crown Court heard on Friday morning that Reid had discussed his sexual fantasies in Facebook messages with others.

In one message, the court heard how he had said there were "still plenty of teenage girls passing by" outside his house.

He also admitted that his main fantasy was girls in school uniforms around the age of 10, and that he told others a "story of how (he) sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl".

However, Crown prosecutor Edward Warren told the court that this was believed to be a fantasy.

"He admitted that he is sexually aroused by children but reiterated that he had never acted on the fantasies," Mr Warren continued.

The former hypnotherapist also admitted distributing some of these images to other paedophiles, using a “complex” system of computers, external hard drives and mobile phones to create back-ups of the images.

  • Anyone who is concerned about a child can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000. Children and young people can call Childline on 0800 1111 or get help online via www.childline.org.uk.