A CHILDREN’S illustrator collected more than 1,000 indecent images of child and bestiality images on his computer.

Father-of-two Michael Komarnyckj, 56, was caught when he accessed a website being monitored by the police, Gloucester Crown court was told today, Friday.

Smartly dressed in a dark suit and tie, Komarnyckj, of Fir Tree House, Nailsworth, admitted 10 charges of possession of illegal images.

The court was told that Komarnyckj’s wife was fully aware of the offences and that the couple remained in a stable relationship.

He was given a 12 month jail term suspended for two years with supervision and a requirement to undergo the Thames Valley Sex Offender Programme.

He was also fined £1,000, ordered to pay £500 costs and a £100 surcharge.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC told him "This is a sad day for you. You have brought utter disgrace upon yourself and I suspect huge embarrassment as well - not only for yourself but for your wife and two children.

"Your are the fifth man in his fifties to appear in this court before me in the last two weeks for downloading this type of filth "One day we will understand why men of your age find it necessary for sexual gratification to look at images of young children and of people suffering violence and indignity.

"The images you looked at showed children suffering the most appalling indignities."

Prosecutor Julian Kesner said police raided Komarnyckj's home with a search warrant and seized three computers and a separate hard drive, Nine hundred and eighty two illegal images were found.

There were 874 child porn images at the least serious Level 1, two at Level 2, 13 at Level 3, 33 at Level 4 and none at the most serious Level 5.

Police also found 177 extreme pornographic images involving people with animals. And there were 157 prohibited cartoon images.

When arrested and interviewed by police, Komarnyckj made frank admissions, said Mr Kesner.

Mohammed Iqbal, defending, said Komarnyckj is a man of previous good character with two adult children. His family were fully aware of the offences and he remained in a stable relationship with his wife, he said.

"The family are working hard to get through this he has their full support," he said.

"He is a children’s book illustrator, a freelance, although that does not pay a huge amount of money. He also does some seasonal warehouse work."

Passing sentence on Komarnyckj, the judge said the sex offender programme would not be an easy option for him, "You will be going into corners of your psyche into which you would rather not go," he said. "It will help you to understand why you require this filth."

On his website, Komarnyckj states "I originally trained as a teacher of art and design but fate being what it is I ended up working as a freelance illustrator and have done for the past 25 years.

"I still spend my spare time away from my drawing board painting or taking photographs indulging my personal creativity free from the constraints of editors and publishers.

"I'm lucky enough to live in the Cotswolds, the southern part removed from the chocolate box villages and tourist honey pots most people associate with this area."