A BACHELOR caught with "tens of thousands" of pictures and videos of child abuse has walked free from court.

Richard Atkins was told by a judge that he would not get the help he needed if he served a short prison term.

The 64-year-old was given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to undergo 40 sessions of one-to-one treatment.

He will also be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely, and will have restrictions on his use of the internet.

Police raided Atkins's home in Dundee Road, Hartlepool, last November and seized his laptop computer and hard-drive.

Experts analysed just a fraction of the images he had a amassed over five years, Teesside Crown Court was told.

There were 250 in the worst category, and involved children as young as one, as well as torture, the court heard.

A further 102 movies and stills were placed in the middle bracket, and 29 in category C, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.

Atkins admitted three charges of making indecent images of children and one of possessing an image of extreme pornography.

Christine Egerton, mitigating, said the former auto electrical engineer should be sentenced only on the images analysed.

Miss Egerton said Atkins had used adult pornography all of his life, and started looking at child abuse after his mother died.

She told the court that he was "socially isolated" but was now coming to terms with his first time law-breaking.

"This defendant does appear genuinely motivated to avoid future offending, and has expressed remorse for his behaviour.

"He knows what he did was wrong," added Miss Egerton. "He accepted he had initially not been honest about his motivation."

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, imposed an eight-month prison sentence, which he suspended for two years, yesterday.

He told Atkins: "I accept there is a low risk of you carrying out your fantasies and meeting children to take part in the activities you had an interest in looking at.

"Not unusually, you have been slow, even if you have reached the stage where you are sexually attracted to children. Not unusually, there is some justification."