A 45-year-old man from Middlewich has been sentenced after pleading guilty to having thousands of indecent images.

Andrew Oakes from Whitley Close in Middlewich appeared at Chester Crown Court on Friday 17 January to be sentenced after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images portraying an act of intercourse or oral sex with a dead or alive animal.

He was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months and was fined a £100 surcharge.

On 5 January 2024 police executed a warrant at Oakes's address and a mobile phone and computer tower were seized.

On examining the devices, officers discovered 3891 indecent images and videos of children, seven category A and 3,884 category C images and videos, as well as 1206 extreme images/videos.

DC Corinne Kinvig from Cheshire Constabulary's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) said: "Behind each picture is a vulnerable victim, whether child or animal, suffering at the hands of an abuser.

"That's why we are determined to find those searching and downloading these sick images to put them before the courts."

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