A MAN who had extreme pornography and 19 indecent images of a child in his computer has avoided jail.

Anthony Heath was sentenced on Tuesday at Newport Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to three charges of making indecent photographs of a child, one charge of attempting to distribute an indecent photograph of a child and one charge of possession of an extreme photographic image.

Prosecuting, Gareth James said police asked for a warrant to search Heath’s property when his internet use was flagged up.

He said a search warrant was executed on September 27 and a laptop and hard drive were seized.

Mr James said: “One category A image was found, together with three of category B and sixteen of category C. The children in the images were as young as eight. Extreme images of adults engaging in sexual activity with animals were also found.”

Mr James said Heath, 52, was arrested on October 10 at Gatwick airport when returning from America.

In police interview, Heath admitted he had been visiting chat rooms and that he had been downloading material, Mr James added.

He said: “During the course of the interview, he said he had tried to upload one image. This only came to light as a result of what he said.”

Defending, Peter Donnison said Heath, of The Crescent, in Machen, accepts that they were “horrific images”.

In mitigation, he said the majority of images were of Category B or C and that it was in the lower end of number of images.

“He is embarrassed and ashamed,” Mr Donnison said.

Judge Daniel Williams said his sentence was mitigated by his guilty plea, his character and the fact the number of images.

“But they are all real children - the number of images would be cold comfort to them,” he added.

Mr Williams sentenced Heath to 32 weeks in prison, but suspended that sentence for two years. Heath will need to complete a rehabilitation activity requirement and a sexual harm prevention order will be in place for 10 years.