A father who downloaded illegal sex images of children told police he was “relieved” he had been caught despite trying to blame his daughter.

Steven Sutton, from Gillingham, admitted to a probation officer he had been looking for pictures and movies for 10 years.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how 49-year-old Sutton initially tried to blame his daughter “who was going through puberty” for accessing the images online out of curiosity.

But prosecutor Andrew Collings said he then made a “full and frank” admission about searching for adult porn images.

“He said that he felt at times they were not really working for him and he began searching for images of teenagers and then felt compelled to watch them.”

Mr Collings said police were alerted to his illegal internet activities and went to his home in St John’s Road, Gillingham, where they spoke with his wife.

Officers then went to his place of work where he was arrested, the court heard.

Sutton admitted three charges of downloading and making images and movies, including some at the most serious level, between November 2017 and April the following year.

Thomas Mayall, defending, said he had turned to porn after suffering depression following an accident at work and had deleted the images after viewing them.

“He has since shown remorse,” he added.

Sutton received an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work for the community.

In addition, he will also have to attend courses on 20 separate days to deal with his “deviant thinking” and will remain on the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC said: “You have expressed remorse and also relief that you had been found out.”

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