A MAN who downloaded indecent images of boys from the internet admitted he had “urges” for such material which needed to be addressed, a court heard.

Police removed a lap-top computer and two hard drives from the home John Macdonald shared with his partner in Consett, County Durham, on July 1.

Durham Crown Court was told examination of the contents revealed 81 indecent images of boys, mainly aged seven to 15, but including one naked youngster, thought to be four.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said 15 were rated in the two most serious categories for such images, accessed by search terms such as Boy Mad, Schoolboy Dirt and Boy Stripped Naked.

Mr Dryden said Macdonald particularly seemed to like pictures of boys wearing nappies, and an image was found of himself, also in a nappy.

When interviewed, Macdonald denied downloading them, but stressed his partner did not have access to the computer equipment in question.

He repeated the denials after the contents were revealed, when re-interviewed in early December, but a week later spoke to his work supervisor, at the Consett B&Q store, and admitted accessing the images for his own viewing.

Appearing before Consett magistrates, on December 29, 51-year-old Macdonald, of Knitsley Lane, admitted possessing indecent images of children.

The case was committed for sentence to the crown court, where Macdonald’s barrister, Paul Cross, urged Judge Christopher Prince not to jail his client.

“If he was made subject of a sex offender treatment programme, given his realisation of his need to control these ‘urges’, the risk may have disappeared within a few years.

“He took a long time to come to terms with his own sexuality and it appears to have caused him some considerable emotional difficulties in his younger years.

“He acknowledges his attraction to male children will never go, but he shows a larger insight than many and has taken active steps to try to control this behaviour.”

Mr Cross added: “He’s clearly someone who would respond extremely well to a sex offender treatment programme.”

But, imposing an eight-month prison sentence, Judge Prince told Macdonald: “If people like you did not want to look at such images, people would not put them on-line.

“Behaviour like yours perpetuates continual sexual abuse of children, on-line.

“The message must go out that those who search for those images and then download them onto their computer, must expect to go to prison, and, therefore, they should not do it.”

Macdonald will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, “until further order”, and must register as a sex offender for ten years.