A 50-YEAR-OLD man has been handed a 30 month community order and a £1,200 fine after pleading guilty to possessing more than 800 indecent images of children.

Stuart John Priest of Abbotts Way, Monks Risborough, has been banned from working with children and put on the sex offenders register for five years.

He will also be forced to attend sex offender treatment.

Police raided his home on July 22 and seized computer equipment, before he was charged with possessing indecent images of children.

Priest pleaded guilty to 12 counts of making indecent photos of children and was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court yesterday.

Det Sgt Sam Hayward said: “The anonymity that the internet offers is simply an illusion.

"We will continue to use technology against offenders and track their digital footprint to hold them to account in order to protect children from abuse.

“Mr Priest told the court that his arrest had led to turmoil in his personal life.

"But Judge Christopher Tyrer quite rightly pointed out that this was insignificant compared to the lifelong psychological scars the abused children would carry with them.”