A student has been jailed for possessing and distributing hundreds of images of child pornography, with some falling into the worst and most depraved Level 5 category.
Connor Jones, who lives in Lewisham, London, was sent to prison for 20 months after admitting five counts of making and possessing indecent images and one offence of distributing indecent images.
Connor Jones started looking at indecent images when he was 16 out of 'misjudged curiosity'
The 21-year-old's crimes ranged over a four year period from 2008. More than 1,400 still and moving images were found on Jones's two laptops, after police raided his homes in Lewisham and Devon.
The Plymouth-born student shared some of the worst images, which the CPS defines as "sadism or penetration of, or by, an animal", over the internet with a stranger.
During Jones's sentencing at Plymouth Crown Court, Judge Paul Darlow said: "Anyone who has ever had to view images of this type will always be struck with the abject misery or the dead-eyed expression against whom these acts have been perpetrated," the Plymouth Herald reported.
"These acts represent the theft of their childhood and the loss of innocence. They store up psychological damage with which they will have to live with for the rest of their lives."
Jason Beal, representing Jones, said the student realised the seriousness of his crimes.