A MAN found in possession of hundreds of indecent images of children has been jailed for 40 weeks at Dorchester Crown Court.

Lennard Basil Spooner, 28, appeared to be sentenced after admitting the possessing of nearly 1,000 indecent images.

Jennie Rickman, prosecuting, said the offences first came to light when Dorset Police was contacted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Service, which raised concerns about properties in Birch Avenue, Blandford.

Spooner’s neighbour was also initially arrested in May 2010, but was later released without charge after it emerged the defendant had been using his Wifi network.

Spooner initially admitted to the possession of around 850 indecent images of children, including nine of the most serious grade five images.

Whilst he was on bail police found more computers at his address and found a further 123 images, ranging from level one to level four.

Nigel Mitchell, mitigating, said Spooner was severely lacking in social skills and had significant learning difficulties, which meant he would struggle to cope with a prison sentence.

He said: “His understanding and appreciation of many things that we perhaps take for granted are, for him, very much reduced. This is a young man that will really struggle if he is sent to prison.”

Judge Roger Jarvis said that, despite Spooner’s difficulties, his offending was so serious that only a prison sentence could be justified.

He said: “This is about very young children being abused, photographs taken and people like you exploiting their abuse by viewing those images.

“If it weren’t for people like you there would be far fewer of these children being abused.”

Spooner was also made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for a period of ten years.