A MAN who was found in possession of “extreme” pornographic images was shopped by his own broadband provider.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Virgin Media contacted Cleveland Police to report concerns over the indecent material John Coates was downloading to his computer.

There was also evidence that Coates, who at the time was living in Holyrood Walk, Hartlepool, was sharing some of the material using so called “peer to peer” sites, prosecutor Rachel Masters said.

The 46-year-old subsequently moved, but a search of his address on March 4 last year by police uncovered 450 still and moving images stored on a computer tower and USB stick.

Of these 247 were in the worst category, while 19 were categorised as “extreme porn” involving sex acts with animals.

During the search Coates told officers: “Yeah it was me, I have downloaded loads.”

Coates, now of Stainborough Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, admitted two counts of possessing indecent images of children and two counts of possessing extreme porn.

Ian Hudson, mitigating, said Coates had always been a working man, but was also a loner and came across as “quite cold”.

However he disputed an assessment by probation officers that Coates showed little remorse.

He said the defendant had made a significant statement to officers when they arrested him and also pleaded guilty to the charges he faced at the first opportunity.

There had also been no repetition of his offending.

Sentencing Coates, The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton said it was wrong to assume that no harm was done by viewing such images in the privacy of a person’s home.

That was because those “feeding the prurient interest of people like you” by making such images were involved in the abuse of children.

He told Coates: “There is a great deal of material here.

“I am also dealing here with somebody who has been involved in this activity for a significant length of time and to a significant extent.”

The judge said there was no justification for suspending a jail sentence on Coates and jailed him for two years in total.