A paedophile has been jailed after hoarding an appalling catalogue of child pornography which featured subjects as young as five-years-old.

Martin Childs, 52, was sentenced to a year in prison after he was caught in January with extreme pornographic images of children on his computer, some of which were classed as being in the most severe category of indecency.

The court heard that the majority of the children in the photos and videos were aged under 13-years-old, some of whom were shown in sex acts with adults.

Appearing at Kingston Crown Court, sitting at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Friday, November 12, Childs, from Mitcham, hung his head in the dock as he heard his fate and cried “Oh s***” when he was told he was going to jail.

Recorder Stephen Kay said: “Many of these children are in other parts of the world and exploited by people who do not care for them and then post them in the internet for others to gratify themselves by seeing.

“It is this trade that people like you help perpetuate. The courts of this country have to send out a clear message that we will try to protect these children in the best way that we can.”

After raiding Childs’ flat in Church Road police confiscated a computer which contained 279 indecent images in total, 40 of which were categorised as level 5, the most severe category, which includes bestiality, sadism and sex with children.

Childs, a Transport for London customer services assistant, admitted to police he had viewed all levels of pornography after becoming “curious”.

His lawyer, Anthony Montgomery, said his client had no previous convictions and was a man of good character, but had suffered from depression and had had “suicidal thoughts”.

Mr Montgomery said: “It was evident that when his partner was asleep, and he was drunk, he became curious to search the internet for these dreadful images.”

Childs will now serve at least six months behind bars and carry out the remainder of his sentence on licence.