A 55-year-old Stroud man has pleaded guilty to having thousands of depraved images of children.

David Clifford, of Jack Russell Close, Stroud, had more than 13,000 explicit images of minors - nearly 70 of which fall into the most vile category.

A staggering 12,881 Category C images were found on his devices along with 80 at Category B and 69 at Category A - the most serious level.

That adds up to a total of 13,030 images.

He admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of a child at Cheltenham Magistrates Court last Tuesday, August 20 - that is one charge for each category. 

The offences occurred in Stroud between April 2, 2022 and September 30, 2023.

Clifford will be sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court Court on September 30 and is on conditional bail until then.

Making indecent images has a wide definition in law and can include opening an email attachment containing such an image, downloading an image from a website or receiving an image via social media, even if unsolicited.