A perverted pensioner who downloaded videos of young children being sexually abused has walked free from court.

Police discovered how Anthony Johnson stored the disgusting videos on his mobile phone after they were tipped-off about his troubling online activity.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 68-year-old watched footage of children as young as two being abused in the five videos recovered with one lasting for more than six minutes.

Ashleigh Leach, prosecuting, said when police arrived at his home Johnson told them that he knew why they were there and handed over a number of digital devices.

She said a check of the defendant’s internet search history showed he had been looking for videos of child sex abuse.

Johnson, of Reeth Road, Hartburn, Stockton, pleaded guilty to one charge of making indecent images of children in Category A – the worst type – between July 2023 and April 17, 20024.

Chris Baker, mitigating, said his client had no similar convictions and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity following his arrest.

He said: “The references from his children speak of a hardworking man who has helped them significantly in the past.

“He is the sole carer for his wife but is sure that the family would make arrangements should he lose his liberty.”

Judge Timothy Stead passed an eight-month sentence suspended for two years but warned him that it could be activated if he commits any further offences.

He said: “I’m not here to start shouting at you and humiliate you but what I do intend to do is say to you that you need to fully acknowledge what you have done.

“It is right to say you have not made any direct contact with a child yourself or attempted to do so but the offending which underlies the things you received, uploaded and kept, is horrifying.

“It is truly wicked. You need to acknowledge in your own mind just how bad it is for the victims in cases of this kind.”

Johnson was ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, made subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and told to attend 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days.