A COMPUTER expert who was caught with hundreds of indecent images of children hidden on an encrypted DVD has dodged prison.

Married man John Thompson shared some of his sick pictures with other paedophiles and had online chats about having sex with young girls.

When police raided his home in North Yorkshire they also found a disturbing story about incestuous child abuse, a court heard.

Thompson claims his warped interest developed after initially looking at "normal pornography" while away from his family on business.

The 58-year-old former soldier was spared prison because a judge said he would not get the treatment he needs behind bars.

He was given an order which is designed to control his computer use and bans him from having unsupervised contact with under-16s.

Recorder Martin Bethel, QC, also imposed a two-year suspended jail sentence with supervision and 100 hours of unpaid community work, and ordered him to go on a sex offender treatment programme.

The judge told Thompson: "You have led, these matters apart, a blameless life, which has included the military service for your country.

"One of the main reasons I have decided to suspend this sentence is if I was to send you directly to prison you would not have the benefit of undergoing such a programme, and I think it is vital, in your interests as well the public interest, that you do."

Amrit Jandoo, mitigating, said Thompson - a veteran of campaigns in The Falklands, Northern Ireland and Bosnia - had sought help himself after his arrest in December.

Police who were monitoring a sex offender in the south east found chat room communication with Thompson about abusing children, prosecutor Nigel Soppitt told Teesside Crown Court.

When they raided his home in Mowbray Road, Catterick Garrison, officers seized a computer and equipment, including the DVD and two hard drives.

There were 2,585 downloaded images - including 54 video clips - as well as the story about sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl, Mr Soppitt said.

Mr Jandoo told the court: "He was in the armed forces and when he retired he sought a fresh career in computer training.

"That's a profession and a career which took him out of the area, away from his family home, effectively for the whole of 2012 to 2013.

"He was on his own, isolated completely, and that's how he explains falling into this community.

"Community is, perhaps, unhelpful to him, but out of sheer boredom it escalated from normal pornography into this kind of pornography, which is abhorrent, and he realises that.

"He has no wish to carry out offences against children. It was pure fantasy, that's how he describes it.

"He is ashamed of his behaviour."

Thompson admitted 14 charges of possessing indecent images of children and 11 counts of distributing them at an earlier hearing.