A YOUNG man downloaded child porn images and his innocent dad got arrested, a court was told.

Lee Robertshaw used the family computer to secretly access a total of 111 mages – including six video clips.

Police subsequently found that software used to download photos from the Internet only worked correctly in the defendant’s name.

He was arrested the following month, but the earlier arrest of his father David had caused the family great distress, Preston Crown Court heard.

Robertshaw, 23, was given a two-year community order involving two years’ supervision and a requirement to take part in the Internet Sex Offenders’ treatment programme.

Robertshaw, of Tewkesbury Close, Baxenden, pleaded guilty to a total of 28 charges of making indecent images of children. He was told he will be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.

Police had gone to his home over two years ago in June 2006.

Mr Hugh McKee, prosecuting, said that on that occasion his father was arrested and a computer and accessories were seized.

The judge said the titles of material in the case had been explicit and it would have been “blindingly obvious” what would be seen if they were opened.

The images were said to be of children from the age of one or two up to 11 or 12.

It was found that images had been downloaded onto the hard drive via a user account in the name of Lee Scott Robertshaw.

Officers then went back to the address in July that year and arrested the defendant.

Mr McKee added: “Much of the downloading took place in the early hours of the morning.”

Robertshaw, who had no previous convictions, would have been aged 20 and 21 at the time.

Of all the images found, only one was at the highest level of seriousness.

Mr Robert Platts, defending, told the court: “This is a young man who has learned his lesson the hard way.”

He said the arrest of the father had caused deep distress. He had been released within 10 days and the defendant then went on to be arrested.

The defendant had got onto the computer after finishing work late when the rest of the family had gone to bed. One night he used particular software and “the rest was history”. He had had to live with the matter hanging over him for two years.

Mr Platts added: “He is never going to come before the courts for anything at all in the future.

“Local publicity about the case has resulted in the pointing of fingers at him. His family has gone through stress as a result of publicity.”

Judge Beverley Lunt considered a number of testimonials on the defendant’s behalf, as well as a letter from his mother.

She said the testimonials spoke of what happened as a tragedy.

But she said in passing sentence: “Let there be no misunderstanding, the only victims of this tragedy are those poor children suffering the most horrendous abuse at the hands of adults in order to satisfy the perverse pleasure that weak-minded individuals like you seem to get from them.”

She said it was Robertshaw’s fault if his family had suffered as a result of publicity.

She said: “You have brought all of this on your own head. You are blessed indeed by a family who are standing by you and surrounding you with support.”

Robertshaw is studying for an HND in travel and tourism at Blackburn College and has previously worked at McDonald’s in Rising Bridge and the Calder pub in Accrington.