Pervert walks from court after police found 355 images of child abuse on computer seized from his Sunderland home

Officers found the illegal haul when they seized Jonathan Kane's computer equipment after a tip off last March.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the pictures involved children aged between five and 12 years old and some were in cartoon form.

Kane, 52, of Chester Road, Sunderland, admitted making indecent images of children and possessing prohibited images.

The court heard 123 of the images were in the most serious category of their type.

Judge Robert Adams sentenced Kane to eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with rehabilitation requirements.

Kane must sign the sex offenders register and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for ten years.

Judge Adams said Kane has had mental health problems and post traumatic stress disorder.

The judge told him: "You have a long and very difficult and tragic history and background involving matters which you were not responsible for and which I am pretty sure will have had a significant effect upon your development thereafter."

Richard Herrmann, defending, said: "There was a horrific series of events in his life, starting when he was two."