A PERVERT caught with hundreds of indecent images of children and extreme pornography involving animals said he was carrying out research and planned to hand his findings to police.

The excuse, once used by The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, was rejected by a judge who jailed Darlington businessman Guy Robson.

Judge Peter Bowers told the 42-year-old: “The idea you intended to report to the police seems surprising given that you had been carrying out this so-called investigation for two-and-a-half years.

“There is no evidence of you carrying out research. I am quite satisfied that you were deliberately searching, storing and sharing grossly degrading images of children, most of whom were under 13. It is quite obvious that you have very little insight into the damage that activity causes to children.

“The interest you showed over two-and-a-half years was unnatural and unhealthy, in particular the sexual exploitation of children.”

Robson admitted 16 charges of making indecent images of children, possessing and distributing the images and possessing extreme pornographic images.

He was jailed for 30 months, placed on the sex offenders’ register, banned for life from working with children and made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order restricting his computer use.

Police raided Robson’s home in Hartington Way, Darlington, in July last year and his computer was downloading indecent images of children while officers were there.

Harry Hadfield, prosecuting, told Judge Bowers that short film clips were also found. After his arrest, international courier firm boss Robson said had been carrying out his own investigations to find out where the porn came from so he could report it to authorities.

Defence barrister Danielle Graham said: “He accepts that he didn’t do that.

“As a consequence of the sentence he will receive, his business will suffer and he will have to go about reestablishing that.”

Miss Graham said Robson, now of Dereham Court, Newcastle, had a long-term partner until recently, and the death of his brother ten years ago led to his thinking going “very, very far off the mark”.