An ex-Army officer has avoided jail after being found with disturbing child sex abuse images on his phone.
Dad-of-one Terence Burn's vile collection, which he had deleted, involved a child as young as four and was discovered after police attended his home and had reason to seize his mobile. The device was examined and it was clear that the 41-year-old had downloaded eight sick images of youngsters, a court heard.
Two extreme pornographic pictures, which involved women and dogs, were also found. He was arrested and initially denied three counts of possessing an indecent image of a child.
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However, Burn, formerly of Forest Hall but now living at Stanton Street, in Arthur's Hill, later changed his pleas and also admitted possession of extreme porn. He appeared at Newcastle Crown Court this week for sentence.
Rachael Glover, prosecuting, said Burn, who now works as a milkman, downloaded the material between August 2017 and April 2019 and his offending came to light when police attended his address and had cause to seize his phone. Miss Glover continued: "His mobile phone was examined and it contained indecent images of children.
"There was one category A image, two category B and five category C. In addition, there were also two extreme pornographic images."
Miss Glover said the category A image involved a female child between the age of four and six and, in one category B and one C, there was a child between the age of six and eight. The extreme porn involved bestiality, the prosecutor added.
Matthew Purves, defending, said there was a "modest" number of pictures involved in the case. He added: "This man has a positive history of public service, joining the Army at 18 years old and doing various tours across Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The impact of those tours of duty have had an influence upon his mental health, which has had an influence, on occasion, upon his level of drinking."
Burn was given an 18-month community order and must do 80 hours of unpaid work. He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and must sign the Sex Offenders' Register for the same period.
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