A nursery worker caught with indecent images of children has been handed a suspended sentence.

Liam Colin McCabe also sent an intimate image to someone online who claimed to be aged 14.

The 39-year-old, of The Kirkway, Onchan, admitted six counts of possessing indecent images of children and three counts of sending an intimate image.

Prosecuting advocate Sara-Jayne Dodge told the court that McCabe was arrested at the Isle of Man nursery, where he worked as a chef, on September 5 last year.

His phone was seized and a warrant was later executed at his Douglas home, where he had been living at the time.

Eight devices were seized and, during interview, McCabe answered ‘no comment’ to all questions.

Prosecutors said the indecent images had been downloaded from the internet and were not connected to children at the nursery.

The indecent images were graded using the latest sexual offences legislation, which categorises material from A to C, with A being the most serious.

The images were categorised as follows - nine category A images, 11 category B and 32 category C.

Highly sexualised conversations were also found on a streaming application called Kick.

In one exchange, McCabe sent an intimate image of himself to a female who claimed she was 14, although it could not be established whether that was true.

When confronted with the evidence, McCabe said: ‘It’s role play, it sounds like role play.’

A probation report said the defendant would benefit from supervision and had been misusing alcohol and cannabis at the time of the offences.

The report said it had been difficult to assess triggers because of the defendant’s denial and minimisation.

He was assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending.

Defence advocate Paul Rodgers said the images sent by McCabe had been categorised as ‘intimate’ rather than ‘indecent’, which he said was an offence unique to the Isle of Man and New South Wales.

Mr Rodgers said his client was not proud of the conversations or offences but had since been seeing a specialist psychologist.

He said McCabe had been diagnosed as bipolar and was addressing mental health issues.

Mr Rodgers said the images found had been deleted and remained only in the cache rather than being stored deliberately.

The advocate said the offences had significantly affected the defendant, who had been forced to live away from his partner and children, although his partner remained supportive and attended court.

Mr Rodgers said a suspended sentence would continue to hang over McCabe and noted he had complied with restrictions relating to electronic devices since his arrest.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood sentenced McCabe to 44 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years, and also imposed a two-year supervision order.

She told him: ‘Every child sex abuse image represents an abused child.

‘Your viewing and use of images perpetuates that abuse.’

McCabe was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs at a rate of £25 per fortnight, deducted from benefits.