A DAD was caught with more than 40,000 indecent images of children.

Paul Burrows’ vile collection included images showing the sexual assault of children as young as four.

Evidence pointed to him trawling the dark web for pictures and videos. He was also said to have made payments to a man under investigation by the National Crime Agency for allegedly arranging and facilitating the abuse of children in Thailand.

Sentencing the 57-year-old to 20 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years at Oxford Crown Court, Judge Nigel Daly said: “We are looking here at a total of over 40,000 images. 40,000 illegal images of children. The most serious – category A – 8,000.

“I don’t know how many children are involved. It must run into thousands. Each one of those has been exploited and we’re looking at [category] A. They are images which involve sexual [abuse] of children some as young as four-years-old.

“That’s what we’re dealing with and there were thousands of them.”

Prosecutor Christopher Pembridge said police received a tip-off that an email address linked to Burrows had accessed the Dark Web.

Officers executed a warrant at his Checkendon home in October 2019. He made full admissions when he was interviewed.

On his computer, police forensic experts discovered 8,283 category A images, 5,262 images in category B and 31,741 in category C. He also had 134 extreme pornographic images including showing a person having sex with a dog.

Mr Pembridge said Burrows had searched the internet for indecent images. He had software on his computer designed to mask his web use.

Burrows, of Checkendon, near Reading, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to making indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornographic material. He had no previous convictions.

The court heard he was remorseful, had a supportive family and had approached sex offender rehabilitation charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation for help after his arrest. He had a teenage daughter.

Judge Daly ordered he complete a rehabilitation programme and 200 hours of unpaid work. He must pay £425 in prosecution costs and will remain on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. A sexual harm prevention order will limit his access to the internet for 10 years.

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