A teenager from Cambridge has been jailed for three years after admitting 12 counts of making and possessing indecent images of children.
Kieran Lynch, 18, was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to the charges put to him at Cambridge Crown Court on February 7.
His home was raided by the police in July last year, and he was found to have possessed and made 64,118 vile images of children. A shocking 488 of these were branded 'level five' by the police – the most severe grading used to assess pornographic material.
Lynch was also found to have downloaded a 'paedophile guide' which included step-by-step instructions on how to identify a victim and abuse them.
The teenager - who had also made and possessed 426 disgusting films - claimed he first came across some images by accident and then became 'curious' until it was a 'habit that he was unable to kick'.
Judge Jonathan Haworth said he would not excuse Lynch's age because of the sheer volume and nature of images he had in his possession. He said it was 'essential' that the court made it clear that there is 'a public repugnance for such offences'.
"It is only because people like you do that children are corrupted and degraded in this way," he said.
The Cambridge News reports that Lynch was also given a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) for a minimum of eight years, and will be put on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.