Sunderland man caught with indecent images claimed they were from sci-fi contact

But Karl Fazakarley, 32, of Knightsbridge, New Silksworth, knew his excuse stood outside the bounds of reason – and pleaded guilty to four sickening crimes.

He was found with 192 of the most serious category A photos, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.

And his vile hoard also included 78 category B and 50 category C images, the least serious type, prosecutor Glenda Beck said.

She told the hearing a further 13 prohibited images of children were identified on electronic devices by police forensic experts.

Fazakarley pleaded guilty to three charges of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child and one of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

The charges relate to dates between November 16, 2017, and January 2, 2019.

Mrs Beck told the court that the aggravating features of his crimes were the ages and vulnerability of the children pictured, the number of victims and his deliberate online searches.

She added that possession of category A images carried a sentence of between six months and three years’ imprisonment.

Jason Smith, defending, said Fazakarley had come into contact with the photos through his membership of an online science fiction group.

He insisted his client had been sent the images by a someone online and that he did now know of their deprived nature until he downloaded them.

Mr Smith said Fazakarley would say he was not a person who was ‘interested’ in such images.

He added: “They opened, and he looked at items with horror but at that point they had already uploaded on the system.

“He panicked, overnight, and deleted the lot the next day, but the police came calling. He’s guilty by default.

“Mr Fazakarley will say that he is not a person who is interested in these images.”

Magistrates presiding over the case ordered an all-options pre-sentence report into Fazakarley’s offending.

Fazakarley, who has no previous convictions, was granted unconditional bail to be sentenced at a later hearing at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday, September 28

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