Wakefield paedophile caught with 100 abuse images on his phone
He initially denied all knowledge
A Wakefield man who downloaded indecent images of children has been handed a suspended prison sentence.
Leeds Crown Court heard police found 100 images on Gavin Richards' phone.
Prosecutor, Oliver Connor said Richards, 40, denied all knowledge of the images when police went to his home and seized his Samsung phone on November 30, 2022.
Mr Connor said the images had been cached and deleted but police accessed them when the phone was forensically examined.
The court heard the images had been downloaded during a period of just over six months between May and November 2022.
A total of 63 of the images were in the most serious category A; 26 were in category B and 31 were in Category C.
Richards, of Park Lodge Grove, Eastmoor, Wakefield, admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children.
He has no previous convictions.
Shannon Woodley, mitigating, said the offences were committed during a time of "significant instability" in his life.
Miss Woodley said Richards' wife had died 18 months previously and he had struggled and turned to alcohol.
Miss Woodley said Richards has had a number of health issues, adding: "He doesn't present as a high risk of harm and re-offending."
Recorder Jeremy Hill-Baker sentenced Richards to a 10-month jail sentence suspended for two years.
Richards was made the subject of a 90-day alcohol abstinence and monitoring probation order.
A 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also made, restricting the computer equipment he is entitled to own.
Recorder Hill-Baker said: "You must make it available for the inspection of its history."
Richards' name will be on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years.