A 70-YEAR-OLD Stonehouse man with an obsession for child pornography has been sent to prison.

John Coxon, of Park Road, Stonehouse, was found to be in possession of 474 images of child pornography on his computer, four of the images Category A, the worst kind, Gloucester Crown Court heard on Friday.

Coxon had previously been convicted of possessing indecent images of children in 2009 when a Sexual harm Prevention Order was imposed.

But the following year he breached the terms of the order and was found to have six further images of children.

The court heard that in January of this year police raided Coxon’s address and found more indecent images on his computer.

He made full admissions to the police and was arrested.

Defending lawyer Dermot Clarke said: “The vast majority of the indecent images found were of Category C, the least serious.

“My client spends much of his time as the sole carer for his wife who suffers from chronic arthritis.

“Boredom of being on his own led to him offending but there is no evidence to suggest that he has ever considered taking further steps from just viewing this sort of material.”

The Recorder of Gloucester His Honour Judge Jamie Tabor QC said: “Pictures of an adult horribly abusing a child are only taken because there is a market for them for people like you.

“You have a problem, a sexual interest in children and you have yet again downloaded these images of children, naked children, being horribly abused.

“This is not the first time you have committed this offence and an immediate custodial sentence is inevitable.”

Coxon was jailed for 12 months, ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for five years and he was again placed on the Sexual Harm Prevention Order, also for five years.