Richard Arrowsmith: Paedophile caught with 137,000 child sex abuse images 'spared jail so he can start a family'

Married man admits to viewing images for 'four or so years'

Derby Combined Court (Google Maps)

A paedophile caught with more than 137,000 child sex abuse images has been spared jail after telling a judge he wanted to start a family.

Richard Arrowsmith, 41, faced up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing indecent images and videos of children at Derby Crown Court.

The married man admitted to downing and viewing the pictures and videos for "four or so years" but said he had never distributed them or made any himself, the Derby Telegraph reports.

He was arrested in February after police received information that an IP address linked to his Sky account had been used to download the images.

A computerised police scanning system identified at least 10,000 indecent images and videos from Arrowsmith's seized devices.

However, a large number could not be categorised due to the sheer amount of files, including 4,336 videos and 137,000 images.

The court heard there were 400 videos in the worst category, Category A, another 255 in Category B and 186 films and 851 images in Category C.

Arrowsmith was sentenced to 10 months, reduced from 15 months due to his guilty plea, suspended for two years.

Recorder Martin Butterworth, told him: "You are 41 years old, with no previous convictions and you pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

"There are three charges against you in relation to the possession of indecent images of children.

"I am taking into consideration your previous good character, you have a wife who supports you, a steady employment and your hopes to start a family in the near future.

"These are not victimless crimes, they encourage serious abuse of sometimes very young children. You were less than honest about the nature of the images."

Arrowsmith must now sign the sexual offences register and has been banned from working with children.

He has also been given a supervision requirement for 12 months, must not leave his house between 7pm and 5am, and must carry out 160 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay £250 in costs.