A laboratory manager at the University of Hertfordshire used his computer at work to view indecent images.
Neil Willmore was first visited by police at his home in Luton after they suspected he was accessing indecent images online from the address.
Their suspicions were proved correct and he readily made admissions about downloading images.
He then told the police officers his computer back at the Hatfield based university also contained material he had been secretly viewing.
Luton Crown Court heard 50-year-old Willmore of Ridgeway Road, Luton took the officers to his place of work and provided pin numbers and passwords which enable them to access his computer and see the material he had spoken about.
As a result Willmore pleaded guilty in court to three offences of making indecent photos of a child, one offence of distributing an indecent image of a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child, possessing an extreme pornographic image and possessing an indecent photo of a child.
Prosecutor Alexandra Kettle-Williams said that acting on intelligence they had gathered, officers had gone to the defendants home in March 2018.
He made admissions about what he had been doing and then told them about his computer at the university.
The court was told in total 420 category A images concerning the very worst child sex abuse material had been found by the officers.
A further 212 category B images were recovered and 20,080 category C images.
Children depicted in the material were aged between one and 14-years-old.
He told the officers he had been drinking heavily while using his computer which had led to his internet use “spiralling” out of control.
Miss Minal Raj defending said Willmore had lost his job at the university and was now estranged from his family.
He was given a 16 month prison sentence which was suspended for two years and ordered to carry out a 40 day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement when he will work with probation staff to address his offending behaviour.
The court ordered the seizure and destruction of the devices on which the indecent material was found and his name will go on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years.
He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years which gives the police powers to inspect any computer equipment he owns and view his internet history.
Sign up to get your own daily update of Bedfordshire news — it’s free
https://www.bedsbulletin.com/bulletin/sign-up/
