A pervert had a secret stash of sickening child pornography on his computer, including images of toddlers being abused.

Terry O'Neill, 36, was arrested after police discovered that he was using his laptop at his home in Carlisle's London Road to download and look at images of young children being sexually abused.

Some victims were aged just two or three, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

O’Neill admitted one count of possessing child pornography and three of downloading such images – five of them from the most serious category.

As he passed sentence on O'Neill, Judge Peter Davies told him: “These are revolting offences. What you were looking at are real children, really being abused.”

The judge said the names of abuse victims in the images were not known but what was known is that those making the images made money out of it because people such as O'Neill were perverted enough to sign up for them.

The defendant didn’t view the images just once, said the judge.

“You watched them on a number of occasions because you have a perverted lust for this sort of material,” said the judge.

“I don't understand – I will never understand – why anyone would want to see a two-year-old boy or girl made to go through that dreadful experience. Who knows what impact it will have for the rest of their lives.

“It's disgusting.”

Earlier, prosecutor Tim Evans told how police raided the defendant's flat after they received information that a computer there was used to download child pornography on August 19 last year.

The same happened on two other dates last year - January 21 and May 25.

Police seized computer equipment from the address and on a Lenovo laptop they 26 indecent images of children being abused, though some of the images viewed by the defendant had been deleted.

Though there was not a huge number of images on the computer, the court heard, those that were found showed the defendant's incredibly disturbing sexual preference for very young children.

Paul Tweddle, for O'Neill, said: “He now realises his initial preference for pornographic images led to something far more dark, and far more sinister. His motivation would have to have been sexual.

“He accepts that he has encouraged the proliferation of this sort of unhealthy, and extremely pernicious pornography on the internet.”

The lawyer added that O'Neill had been in touch with the Stop It Now charity, which helps people with an unhealthy sexual interest in children.

In addition to the jail sentence, which he suspended for two years, Judge Davies ordered O'Neill to complete 180 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and ruled that the defendant should go on the Sex Offenders' Register for the next ten years. He must pay £260 towards the prosecution costs.

In addition, O'Neill will have to undergo 40 days of rehabilitation under the supervision of the Probation Service, with the hope that this work will ensure he does not commit such offences again.