A NEWTON Abbot man was caught with 821 child abuse images after he was sent them by a chat room contact.

Jack Parnell was given the address of a dropbox by his online friend and downloaded the images, 91 of which showed children suffering serious sexual assaults.

He later told the police that he was depressed at the time and considered what he had done as a form of self-harm.

Parnell, aged 27, of Pinewood Road, admitted three counts of making, by downloading, indecent images of children.

He was ordered to do 20 days of rehabilitation activities, 80 hours of unpaid community work and pay £200 costs by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him the three-year delay in bringing the case to court had given him a chance to show he can stay out of trouble and to demonstrate his remorse.

He said: ‘You now appreciate the great deal of awful harm caused to children by the creation of these images. Without people like you creating the demand, it is likely there would be far fewer, which is why these offences are serious.’

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said police raided Parnell’s home on May 3, 2019, and found images of a tower computer and a storage device.

He had 91 at category A, which depicted penetrative acts against children, and 730 and the two lower levels. He told police he had been asked if he wanted to see images by an online contact and downloaded them from a dropbox.

He told police in interview that viewing the images was a type of self-harm.

Miss Bathsheba Cassel, defending, asked the judge to follow the suggestion of a probation pre-sentence report which noted Parnell’s remorse and willingness to change.