A PERVERT who downloaded and shared sickening child abuse images has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Nathan Lazenby was caught in possession of almost 100 depraved pictures and images when police turned up at the door of his Darlington home.

The 25-year-old had been accessing the vile child abuse images between January 1 year and March 3 this year, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Annelise Haugstad, prosecuting, said Lazenby immediately confessed to viewing the child abuse images as soon as the officers knocked on his door.

She said: "He immediately made an unsolicited statement 'I do know what this is about, about a month ago I did send something on Snapchat that wasn't appropriate' and he later deleted the app."

Miss Haugstad said the defendant later called the police and told them other images were stored in a secret file on his digital devices.

In police interview he said he started receiving the images at the start of 2020 and the Covid pandemic because he felt 'isolated and depressed'.

She added: "He collected and sought more images to maintain the interest of people he was in conversation with and discussed a fabricated sister and added images from the internet to add authenticity."

Lazenby pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children and three charges of distribution of indecent images of children.

David Robinson-Young, in mitigation, said his client was ashamed of his behaviour and urged the judge to suspend any custodial sentence.

He said: "In a letter to the court he wrote 'I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering that my actions have caused to my family and friends and also the children in the images'."

Judge Paul Watson QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, sentenced Lazenby to two years in custody, suspended for two years.

He said: "You don't need me to tell you the general feeling of revulsion in society with people who distribute material of this sort. The possession and distribution of images like this is not a victimless crime, these are invariably real children who have been subjected to real and sometimes unimaginable abuse."

Lazenby was also made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and placed on a curfew for six months.

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