Police found that almost 1,000 of the images were of an indecent nature and there were also explicit movie clips in the collection found at Neil Johnson's Hartlepool home.

Officers had raided the property following a tip-off and seized nearly 100 CDs and DVDs, as well as a computer.

Johnson, 24, admitted to a string of charges when he first appeared in court and was placed on the Sex Offenders' register while sentencing was adjourned.

But weeks later police visited his new home in Stockton and found he had bought a laptop and downloaded more pornographic images of children.

Judge Peter Armstrong described the collection as of "the most appalling nature" and jailed him for six months.

Paul Cleasby, mitigating, said Johnson was bullied at school and became isolated and spent a lot of his time in his bedroom at his family home.
Mr Cleasby urged the judge to impose a community sentence.

But Judge Armstrong said: "What's needed in your case is a sentence of custody to remind you this sort of activity is simply too serious for anyone to overlook, and as a deterrent to you and anyone else who thinks they would like to download these sorts of images on the internet."

Johnson, now of Spring Home Terrace, Stockton, admitted to an initial 17 counts of making indecent images of children and a further charge of possessing 921 indecent pictures and 10 of making indecent pictures following his second arrest.