AN ELLESMERE Port man was caught with more than 1,500 indecent images of children as young as five stored on his computer.

Paul Price admitted two charges of possessing indecent images and 15 charges of making them when he appeared at Chester Crown Court.

The 39-year-old, from Jersey Avenue, Stanney Oaks, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Prosecutor Myles Wilson said the defendant had 1,515 images stored on his home computer when it was seized by police.

Of these, 798 had been deleted but were discovered by police analysts using specialist software.

Mr Wilson explained: “Mr Price’s computer was seized on July 6, 2007, when he was arrested for an unrelated matter.

“He had attempted to conceal the images by storing them under different names and he had also installed software to wipe information from the computer’s disk drive.”

Mark Connor, defending, said: “These sorts of charges carry a great deal of stigma and it has taken courage for him to admit these offences to his partner and his family.

“He accepted full culpability and did not attempt to minimise his behaviour.

“He is remorseful, has admitted his guilt and now needs to be rehabilitated and to come out of it a better person.”

Judge Roger Dutton told Price: “You had 1,515 illegal images of children, mostly girls, varying in age from five or six to mid-teens. This is clearly so serious that a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Price received six months’ imprisonment concurrent on each charge, suspended for two years.

During this time he will be supervised by the probation service under the sex offenders treatment programme.

He will have to regularly report to police to confirm his whereabouts for seven years and adhere to the conditions of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years.

The order prohibits him from using the Internet to view illegal images. He is also banned from Internet chatrooms and social network sites, and banned from working in any capacity with children for life.