POLICE found 1.8 million images on the computer equipment of a loner with an obsession for child abuse.

Simon Pattison amassed the sickening library of photographs and videos over years spent isolated in his bedroom, a court heard.

Yet the 32-year-old dodged a prison sentence when a judge declared: “It is just possible because there’s been no distribution.”

Officers were stunned by the scale of the downloaded collection, and it would “take forever” to categorise every single one.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield told Teesside Crown Court on Thursday that the sample taken involved boys and girls aged five to 14.

Mr Hadfield said the longest video lasted more than three-and-half hours, and there were also images of extreme pornography.

Office worker Pattison said he did not realise looking at the vile material created a demand and real children were being abused.

The court heard how he started looking at adult pornography before switching to searching for boys and girls nine years ago.

Defence lawyer Scott Taylor said: “He spent many of his early years sitting at his computer without any social interaction.

“He is a bit of a loner, and his first girlfriend was when he was 27, who was with him when the police attended the premises.

“That relationship has obviously fallen by the wayside. His parents and his girlfriend had no idea he was accessing this material.

“He resigned from his job to save his employers embarrassment. He has been working since he left university and contributing to society.”

Pattison admitted charges of making and possessing indecent images of children, prohibited images of children and extreme pornography.

He was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and put on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.

Judge Peter Armstrong told Pattison, of Honeycombe Avenue, Stockton, would have been jailed if he had shared the images.

He was also given a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order which is designed to restrict his use of computers and the internet.

Judge Armstrong said: “It would appear you were shy and introverted and spent a lot of time on your own accessing this material.”