A pervert who downloaded hundreds of indecent pictures of young girls has avoided jail.

Christopher Wright, of Oswaldtwistle, who has previous convictions for indecent assault and two counts of indecent exposure, later confessed to police that he was ‘particularly attracted to very early teens’, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The court was told officers executed a warrant at his former home in Burnley on January 29 last year and seized computer hardware.

They later found a total of 403 indecent images including 26 of category A – the most serious – 32 of category B and 345 category C.

Wright, 54, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of making indecent images and was given a six-month jail term, suspended for two years with supervision, and a two-year internet sex offender treatment programme.

He was also given a sexual harm prevention order and made subject to police notification requirements, both for seven years.

Michael Brady, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant was arrested and during his interview made full admissions.

“He said he was particularly attracted to very early teens, around 13 or 14 years old.

“The young girls in these images have not been identified but they appear to be between the ages of 12 and 15.

“The defendant said he made no attempt to hide the material and they were kept in folders on the computer with some banal titles.”

Mr Brady said Wright, of Hargreaves Road, also told police how he used internet search terms which would ‘come up with these sorts of images’.

Clare Ashcroft, defending, said: “He has retained the support of his wife. She is fully aware of these matters and his previous convictions.

“Since he has been on bail for these offences she has at all times encouraged him to remain in the room with her when he does any kind of computer-related work.

“He has installed as best as he can some systems within his own computer software in order to control, at first blush, any programmes which he may inadvertently access and will flash up to alert him.”

Miss Ashcroft said Wright had previously attended sessions at Burnley Hospital to ‘address his underlying issues’ but said they had no benefit as they ‘were not particularly targeted’ to his needs.