A MAN has been sentenced after he admitted to downloading thousands of images of underage children.

Euan Lee, of Bowfell Crescent in Barrow, was found to be in possession of 27 category A images (the most serious), 121 category B images and 2,872 category C images of children between August 2017 and September 2021.

The 26-year-old also admitted to possessing one prohibited image of a child.

Prosecuting the case at Preston Crown Court on January 12, Beth Pilling said police attended the defendant’s address with a search warrant on September 10, 2021 where they seized 11 devices.

Ms Pilling said three of the devices, a hard drive, desktop laptop and Macbook, contained 3,020 indecent images of children, who were all aged between six and ten-years-old.

The court heard the majority of the images had been stored in folders.

Lee was interviewed on June 13 last year where he admitted to downloading the images.

He told officers he had done so as a form of escapism to cope with his mental health difficulties, the court heard.

In mitigation, Rachel Cooper said the downloading of images stemmed from her client’s social isolation and that he had taken voluntary steps in understanding why he committed the offences.

Sentencing the defendant to a 36-month community order, His Honour Judge Richard Archer, said: “All of these images were looked at by you and they all represent real images of child abuse.

"That is why they are serious and why offenders must know their offending is serious.”

Judge Archer also imposed a sexual harm prevention order for a period of five years and notification requirements for five years, as well as for the defendant to undertake up to 20 RAR days as part of his community order.

The court heard Lee had no previous convictions.