A 24-YEAR-OLD Quedgeley man caught with more than 20,000 indecent images of children that he had been collecting since his teens has avoided jail.

On Thursday, September 18 Nicholas Mills, of Blackthorn Gardens, Quedgeley, was given a three-year community order with a condition that he attends a sex offender course and does 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was also made subject of an indefinite sexual offences prevention order and told to sign the sex offenders’ register for the next five years.

Mills, who appeared at Gloucester Crown Court, had two large bags with him in the dock, having been warned at a previous hearing to expect a jail term.

But Judge William Hart said he had decided, in line with a recent Court of Appeal decision in a similar case, to allow Mills to undergo a programme.

This, he said, might prevent him re-offending, which was preferable to a short jail term which would leave him as an ‘untreated sex offender’.

Mills had pleaded guilty to nine offences of making indecent photographs of children between May 7, 2007 and February 8, 2014. He also admitted a tenth charge of possessing 1,055 Category A images (the worst), 2,839 category B images and 16,117 Category C (the least serious) on February 7 this year.

Prosecutor Janine Wood said that from 2005 to 2010 police in Toronto, Canada, were investigating a firm selling DVDs including so-called ‘naturist’ films.

Details of Mills making two purchases from the firm were passed to Gloucestershire Police and his home was raided on February 7 this year.

An iMac computer, a laptop and an external hard drive were found to contain illegal still photos and videos of children, some being abused by adults.

In total he had 20,022 indecent images and videos.

Sarah Jenkins, defending, said that after his arrest Mills referred himself to the mental health services for counselling.

He had accepted what he did was wrong and wanted help to prevent him from re-offending, she said.

Judge Hart said there was a need to deter both Mills and other people from such offending by passing a custodial term – but at the time the court had to consider how best to rehabilitate him for the benefit of society.

“You were beginning to show an interest in this sort of material from the age of 17 or 18,” said Judge Hart.

“It carried on undetected.

“The problem for the court is seeking to send out the message that this behaviour cannot be tolerated, while also looking at the question of rehabilitation.”