A man who was found with nearly 2,000 indecent images of children has been handed a suspended sentence.

Joao Pedro Figueiredo swapped images online with another user and admitted he was sexually attracted to children.

A court was told yesterday (Monday) that the youngest victim in the images were judged to be aged between three and four years old by a senior police expert.

Prosecutor Roger Kane told the court that, in March, Manx authorities were informed by the UK’s National Crime Agency that the 21-year-old had uploaded multiple indecent images of children to the internet.

Having been arrested at his home in Close Ny Mooragh, Ramsey, Figuieredo originally denied the offences or that he was attracted to children. However he requested a second interview with officers the next day where he admitted having an attraction to girls aged about 12 and that he had images on his computer and a separate hard drive.

The 1,856 images were assessed using the Copine Scale which measures the severity of pictures and videos from one to five, with five being the most severe.

A total of 593 images were categorised at level one, 187 at level two, 67 at level three, 988 at level four, and 21 at level five.

That report also included a summary of some of the worst images, which was not read out in court. However Deemster Cook highlighted that it said the youngest victim in the images was a girl said to be aged between three and four years old.

Defence advocate Jane Gray told the Court of General Gaol Delivery that her client lived an ’isolated life’ and had suffered with his mental health since the breakdown of his ’first real relationship’.

She said that Figueiredo was originally sent a link to a website containing images of child abuse but that he was unaware of this when he opened it. However, since then he had gone on to look at others himself.

Mrs Gray said Figueiredo was ’deeply distressed’ by his actions, which could be recognised by his second interview where he fully cooperated with the police.

A doctor’s report on him said Figueiredo has an ’adjustment disorder’ and suffers with anxiety and depression.

Mrs Gray said he had suffered from breakdowns while in prison on remand, but had not had any further help from mental health services.

She also noted a probation report which said he would benefit from access to services available in the community as opposed to going back to prison.

Deemster Cook said Figueiredo is ’clearly someone who needs assistance’, so he would be suspending his sentence.

He told Figueiredo that is because of ’people like you’ who access indecent images, that they get made, ’these children are having awful things done to them that they may never recover from’.

Deemster Cook sentenced Figueiredo to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He is also the subject of a sexual offences prevention order, which restricts his use of electronic technology, for 10 years and he will also be placed on the sexual offenders’ register for 10 years.