Hartlepool pervert had thousands of child abuse images.

A pervert had so many obscene photographs of youngsters on his computer device that authorities were unable to categorise them.

Stephen MacDonald was found to have more than 7,256 child sex abuse photographs, with an additional 8,000 having ‘borderline’ content, according to Teesside Crown Court.

The 42-year-old was arrested following a tip-off about his internet activities, and photographs were discovered on a computer, a laptop, a hard drive, and three mobile phones.

Prosecutor Cole Cockburn stated that some of the youngsters in the photographs were as young as three or four years old and were in “discernible pain or distress”.

He stated that additional 8,000 questionable photos had been found from MacDonald’s two million saved images. “Websites with indicative terms were found in all three mobile phones,” he specified.

MacDonald, of Ormesby Close in Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to possessing 34 Category A photographs (the worst kind), 21 Category B images, and 7,256 Category C images that he had downloaded during a 16-year period.

Rachel Kelly, mitigating, stated that her client had no previous convictions before pleading guilty to the counts at the earliest opportunity.

She stated that MacDonald was not receiving medical therapy for anxiety or depression and was living independently.

Judge Richard Clews sentenced the defendant to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered him to participate in 30 rehabilitation activity days and perform 100 hours of unpaid work.

He responded, “I’m sure it’s extremely simple at home, staring at anything on a screen, and you may not believe you’re doing much harm, but that’s not the case. For more court articles from The Northern Echo, click here.

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These photos exist because people want to see them and, in some cases, pay for them. “They are only created because people want to see them; therefore, this is serious.

“Each of those children in the pictures are being abused, some of them horribly so.” MacDonald was ordered to join the sex offenders’ registry for ten years and to comply with a sexual harm prevention order for the same time period.

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