A UNIVERSITY student who decided to carry out a prank on a pal by putting a photo of their professor on his smart phone, made a shocking discovery which landed his friend in front of a judge.

The friend opened Samuel Lanckmans' iPhone storage area to plant the picture - but was horrified to find photos of a girl student undressing and indecent images of children.

A judge heard that the 22-year-old, who was studying for a Masters' Degree in Meteorology and Climatology at Reading University, had secretly filmed a young female housemate sitting on the toilet as well as undressing by putting his iPhone in a shoebox and hiding it in her bathroom.

Lanckmans admitted his crimes and was spared jail by a judge who said she was taking a "wholly unusual step" in giving him a community order.

The student admitted two counts of voyeurism, three counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of possessing indecent images of children after a shocking stash of 44 paedophilic pictures and 11 videos were found on his computer.

Prosecutor Jane Davies told the judge how one of his fellow university friends and housemates was planning to carry out a prank on the 22-year-old student by downloading a picture of his professor onto his external hard drive on November 10 2015.

After accessing the storage area via his MacBook laptop, the student clicked on a folder entitled "finance" where the sordid collection of child images were found. 21 of the images and five of the videos were of the most serious nature - category A - which showed penetration of a child.

Sentencing Lanckmans Judge Johanna Cutts said: "You have pleaded guilty to what I hope you realise are very serious offences.

"You broke the trust of one of your friends who we have heard only cared for you. By putting your iPhone in a shoebox in her bathroom you have planned something on two separate occasions, thinking only of yourself."

She continued: "In interview, you said you did not believe that your actions actually harmed children.

"I hope you now realise that were it not for people like you downloading and accessing these images for your own sexual gratification, these children - and they are children, some very young children - would not be abused in the first place."

Lanckmans was in the fourth year of his Meteorology and Climatology Masters degree at Reading University when he was arrested and police seized his laptop, hard drive and phone.

The prosecutor said of his friend's shocking discovery: "After finding the images he recalled seeing a video of one of Lanckmans's friends getting undressed, on his phone.

"He spoke to a fellow student housemate and decided to call the police."

Talking about the victim of the voyeurism Miss Davies added: "She was totally unaware of the videos having been taken and only found out when she was informed by the police."

Officers found two videos of the victim on his phone, one of her using the toilet and another of her undressing.

Despite the seriousness of the crimes, Judge Cutts told Reading Crown Court that she thought a non-custodial sentence would greater help his rehabilitation.

She added: "I have decided that you can deal with all of these offences by way of a community order.

"This is a wholly unusual case. If you offend in this way or any other way again, it will be inevitable that you will end up in prison."

He was sentenced to a community order of three years for each offence, to run concurrently and a 20-day rehabilitation order alongside a sex offender requirement order.

Judge Cutts also made him subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), greatly restricting his future use of the internet, for five years and he must sign the Sex Offenders' Register during that time.

Defending, Alex Davey told Reading Crown Court that since his arrest Lanckmans - an only surviving twin - has been diagnosed with an "autism spectrum condition."

"When he was interviewed he told officers, 'I've just messed up my life'," she said.

"When they told him he hadn't yet been convicted of anything he replied,' Yeah but I know what I've done.'

"Since then he has been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having an autistic spectrum condition."

He was was arrested on December 11 2015 but not charged until 10 months later on October 14 2016, confessing to his crimes at Reading Magistrates' Court on October 28.

Lanckmans, of Tudor Gardens, West Wickham, Bromley, south London, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court and his laptop, hard drive and phone were ordered to be destroyed.

A spokesman for the University added: "Mr Lanckmans is no longer a student at the University, having graduated four months before he was charged with these offences.

“We have zero tolerance and strict disciplinary procedures for dealing with current students found guilty of serious crimes.

“We give any student who finds themselves a victim of crime our full support and assistance where required.”