A VODAFONE engineer caught with a mountain of pornographic material has received a community order after convincing a judge he was working hard to mend his ways.

Self-confessed sex addict Peter Fry, of Ogden Park, Bracknell, received a community order at Reading Crown Court on March 5.

The 54-year-old joined Sex Addicts Anonymous after he was caught with the indecent material, some of which depicted women having sex with horses and dogs.

Judge Nigel Daly told the telecommunications engineer how he had helped to fuel a market for pornographic images of children and if he broke the terms of his community order he could face five years in prison.

Prosecuting, Kirsty Allman, said: “Information was received by the police in 2017 in relation to the uploading of an image to a social media platform, ChatStep. That IP address led to the home of the defendant and his partner.

“The police entered the two bedroomed flat and Fry, who was present, told them it was 'all to do with him.'

"Officers confiscated media storage devices, laptops, USB sticks, and hard drives.”

The court heard that Fry’s partner of seven years was supporting him through the proceedings and he was still in his job.

Fry was given a 24 month community order, involving 30 days rehabilitation, as well as 120 days of unpaid work. He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order

Judge Daly told Fry he would not face jail for three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of extreme photographs showing animals.

He added: “I am not here to protect horses and dogs, I am here to protect children.

"Looking at photographs and images of children is illegal, and one of the reasons it is illegal is because if there were no market for this sort of thing, it would not be happening in the sort of amounts it is happening.

“Very often it involves children who are very young and children in less accessible parts of the world. If there were no market for it, the child may not get abused."

Defending, Taimoor Tarafdar, said Fry was a 'recovering addict' and urged the judge not to send him to prison.

He added: "He limits his watching of legal pornography to a very low level; he hasn’t masturbated for a year."