Police found thousands of photos and films showing children being sexually abused on a PhD student's computer – and more than one million further images they did not examine or categorise.
The images had been downloaded and put into folders on Daryl Lawton's device over a period of seven years.
Swansea Crown Court heard the 26-year-old finds interacting with people "very hard" and spends much of his time in his bedroom on his computer.
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Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said police went to Lawton's home address on June 16, 2020, as part of an investigation into other matters which did not ultimately lead to any charges. The officers seized a number of electronic devices and on one of them – described as a "gaming tower" – they discovered indecent images.
The court heard that in total there were 861 Category A images – those showing the most extreme kinds of abuse – along with 587 Category B and 1,813 Category C images which were all stored in folders on the machine. Miss Cutter said one million further images were also located but were not examined or categorised by officers though "at least some amongst these were indecent images." There was also evidence Lawton had searched the internet for such material.
The defendant subsequently gave a "no comment" interview.
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Daryl William Lawton, of King's Road, Prince of Wales Dock, Swansea, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children. He has no previous convictions.
Rakesh Bhasin, for Lawton, said it was clear from the thorough and comprehensive pre-sentence report on the defendant that he was a "complex" individual whose anxiety, autism, and obsessive compulsive disorder led him to lead an "isolated" life. He said his client had a degree and a master's degree and was currently studying for a PhD at university but found it "very hard to interact with people" and as a consequence spent much of his time in his bedroom using his computer. The barrister said the report identified a "high level of sexual preoccupation" and he invited the court to follow its recommendations and impose a sentence which could be served in the community.
Judge Catherine Richards told Lawton that by downloading images of real children somewhere in the world being sexually abused he was contributing to their abuse. She said the offending clearly crossed the custody threshold but after careful consideration she had been persuaded to back away from immediate custody as "punishment and rehabilitation are best served by getting you the professional help you need not to re-offend again".
With discounts for his guilty pleas Lawton was sentenced to a three-year community order and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and to abide by an electronically-monitored nightly curfew for the next thee months. He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the next 10 years and must sign the sex offenders register for the same length of time.
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