A PERVERT who scoured the dark web for sick child abuse images “catalogued and stored” a collection of more than 20,000 pictures.

Clive Mars, 67, also used a hidden camera to capture images of a child.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the Gulf war veteran took his own images of two victims on the hidden camera before storing them for later viewing.

When police raided his home, they seized a number of storage devices including 24 USB drives and a 125gb hard drive.

Officers found more than 20,000 indecent images of children, including more than 16,000 at Category C, 3,000 at Category B and 2,200 at the most serious Category A.

More than 2,000 movies at Category A were also uncovered.

Mars, of Waterside Marina, Brightlingsea, admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children, one count of taking an indecent image of a child, five counts of voyeurism, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images.

Matthew McNiff, mitigating, said a report had found Mars was at a low risk of re-offending and could be properly rehabilitated.

He said Mars, who served in the armed forces from the age of 23, had an “exemplary record”.

READ MORE: Gulf war veteran set up camera to film child and had sick haul of abuse images

But Judge Christopher Morgan said he was of the “firm opinion” an immediate prison sentence must follow.

Jailing Mars, of Waterside Marina, Brightlingsea, for 27 months, he said: “You deliberately searched, you used the dark web.

“The result of your searching was the collection of these images."

He added: “There are a significant number of images from the schedule which demonstrate you were viewing on a regular basis, and searching for on a regular basis, abuse of children as young as one years of age.

“It is quite plain the young ages of these children is an aggravating feature within the Category A images.

“Those children are, because of their age and their circumstances, plainly vulnerable.”

He added: “These images were not viewed and then deleted.

"It is quite plain on your own admission you catalogued them, you had a number of devices including USB sticks, your collection included moving images.”

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