A FORMER security guard will spend more than a year in prison after being caught with indecent images of children a judge said were “some of the worst” she had ever seen.

Michael Mitchell, of Havergate Way, Reading, will spend 16 months behind bars after downloading more than 1,000 images and videos of child and animal porn.

The videos downloaded by the 41-year-old included one where a child estimated to be up to 18-months-old was in “visible distress and pain” after being violently sexually abused.

A court heard how Mitchell was “pleased” to have been caught by police because he “realised it was wrong” and he “couldn’t stop”.

Mitchell started downloading the images in January 2016 and over the course of more than three years accumulated more than 1,000 child and animal porn images.

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His activities were discovered after an IP address associated to the distribution of the indecent images was linked to his residence.

Police arrived at his address on November 7, 2019 with a warrant to search his address.

Upon their arrival, Mitchell told police ‘the items you will be interested in will be in my room.’

Officers seized a laptop and Mitchell was arrested.

Following an analysis of his laptop, police found 368 ‘category A’ indecent images of children -- the most severe and explicit type of images.

They also discovered 320 category B images and movies and 333 category C images and movies, with 70 images and videos of extreme porn featuring animals also found.

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Prosecuting, Adam Williams said Mitchell’s offending stretched over a “significant period” before he was caught.

Defending, James McCrindell said Mitchell had been taking part in a rehabilitation programme called ‘Stop It Now’ which aims to help sex offenders following his arrest in 2019.

He revealed the 41-year-old had lost his job since news of his conviction emerged.

McCrindell said: “In a sense, he wanted this to stop and was pleased that the police were there.”

Judge Sarah Campbell asked Mr McCrindell how he came to this conclusion.

He responded: “He [Mitchell] realised it was wrong and he couldn’t stop himself at the time.

“This has stopped him from continuing this behaviour.

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“He comes to court as a man of very positive good character.

“People are able to attest to the kind and decent side of this man.

“It is a life, so far, that can’t be criticized.”

Mr McCrindell argued for a suspended sentence for Mitchell, but Judge Campbell waved away these appeals.

“This is some of the worst [indecent image content] I have seen”, she said.

Describing a 17-minute video which showed a girl estimated to be 10-18 months old being sexually abused, Judge Campbell told the court the child was “crying”, and “clearly in visible distress and pain.”

Another video outlined by Judge Campbell involved a dog performing a sex act on a child estimated to be between six and eight years old.

She said the majority of the content on Mitchell’s laptop involved children estimated to be between four and eight years old.

She said: “These are real children and there are a number of different victims.”

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Addressing Mitchell, Judge Campbell continued: “Your offending arose out of a long history of porn use because of your loneliness and boredom.

“These are images which are created for people like you in order to create a market.

“The aggravating factors are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”

Mitchell was sentenced to 16 months in prison after admitting to three counts of making indecent images of a child and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image of intercourse with an animal.

The 41-year-old will serve half this sentence before being eligible for release, and was also handed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

He appeared at Reading Crown Court on Friday, May 21.

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