A FORMER soldier and 'loner' from Northwich has been jailed after spending years downloading hundreds of indecent images of children.

Ashleigh David Todd, of Station Road, had already pleaded guilty to the six counts, which related to the possession and making of 499 indecent images.

The 57-year-old was appearing at Chester Crown Court on Friday, February 4, where he was sentenced by Recorder Mark Ainsworth to serve 18 months behind bars.

Prosecuting barrister Peter Hussey, told the court Todd began his offending back in 2012, and spent seven years downloading hundreds of images and videos of children.

Todd was arrested in 2019 and following a lengthy police investigation, in which 11 devices belonging to him were analysed and it was discovered his Dell computer and its hard drive contained all of the indecent images.

"It is clear by the number of search terms used by the defendant, what he was looking for," said Mr Hussey.

"Among those used were 'pre-teen hardcore' which matches much of the material that was found."

"One of the videos was more than 14 minutes long and involved a 12-year-old girl being raped by a man."

In total, Todd pleaded guilty to six counts, one of which related to making 280 category A images, which are the most serious. 

The other counts related to him making both category B and C images, while counts five and six related to prohibited videos, which were animated, rather than real life.

Jonathan Rogers, defending, said his client had shown genuine remorse, but accepted the offences had crossed the custody threshold.

"He made admissions in his interview when he was arrested three years ago," he said.

"He accepts what he did was wrong.

"He has no previous convictions and he has contributed to society as a whole for most of his life, including when serving his country in the army for five years.

"It has taken a significant toll on him, including losing his employment.

"He was very much a loner and lived for his job."

Mr Rogers added how Todd was now in significant ill-health, and was awaiting an operation to remove part of his bowels.

"He's facing life as a 57-year-old sex offender," he added.

"I would ask if you could step back from the imposition of immediate custody."

Recorder Mark Ainsworth told Todd although his offending wasn't 'the worst of its type' it was still 'horrendous'.

He added: "It it wasn't for people like you, there wouldn't be a market for this type of material and there wouldn't be child victims.

"This became a regular part of your every day life for a period of about seven years.

"There is no excuse for what you did as you clearly went on the internet to find images using specific search terms.

"These are children who are clearly distressed about what it being done to them.

"Due to the number of images found, the only appropriate sentence is one of immediate custody."

As well as sentencing Todd to serve 18 months in jail, the judge also made him subject of a sexual harm prevention order for a period of 10 years.