A 63-YEAR-OLD man has been spared jail after admitting having thousands of indecent or extreme images in his possession – including 63 of children and more than 7,000 extreme pornographic images involving animals.

John Pardoe, of Dene Drive in Winsford, appeared in Chester Crown Court on October 12 after pleading guilty to possessing 63 indecent images of children, 11 prohibited images of children and 7,612 extreme pornographic images.

The court heard how between January 26, 2010, and May 6, 2020, in Winsford, Pardoe had 11 category C indecent photographs/videos of children, nine category B and 43 category A – the most serious.

Pardoe was found with 11 prohibited images of children within the same timeframe.

Chester Crown Court was told he also had thousands of extreme pornographic images which portrayed - in an explicit and realistic way - people performing sexual acts with live or dead animals.

Pardoe was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, as well as 180 hours of unpaid work and up to 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He is also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and must sign the register for 10 years.

As part of his sentence, Pardoe must not use any computer or device capable of accessing the internet unless he has notified a relevant police team within three days of the getting the device.

The device should have the capacity to retain and display internet history, and Pardoe must not delete such history and make it available to police upon request.

Pardoe cannot join, subscribe to, or use any social networking website or mobile application which includes any online chat, messenger, or picture sharing service.

This is unless he gives notice to a police officer, or other accredited person, and provides the account name, username, or other identity to be used on the account, the account password and he retains the account history.

The court also added Pardoe must not subscribe to any cloud or similar remote storage media capable of storing digital images unless he informs and gives full details to police.