The sentencing of a man who admitted downloading 79,294 indecent images of children has been adjourned until September 5 so that he can obtain a psychiatric report from his own private psychiatrist.

Daniel Paul Ashenden, 38, had been due for sentencing last week, having pleaded guilty to 11 counts of possessing images, and one of distributing them.

Last September, police executed a search warrant at Ashenden’s home at The Crescent in Ramsey, and the images found were processed by the force’s digital evidence unit.

The images are categorised using the Copine scale, which is used to measure the severity of an image from one to five, with five being the most severe category.

Prosecuting advocate Roger Kane said that 1,500 still images and 7,000 moving images had been assessed at level four.

Forty-seven still images and 19 moving images were categorised as level five.

The indecent images had been downloaded between August 2005 and September 2021.

They were contained on multiple devices, and Ashenden gave no reply after caution by police.

Defence advocate Jane Grey told the court that in addition to having attended a psychological wellbeing course, Mr Ashenden had been ‘actively looking for a psychiatric report’ to ‘understand why he was feeling the way that he was feeling’.

Initial diagnoses indicated that he suffered from ‘underlying anxiety and dependent personality disorder’.

She explained that these diagnoses had been provided by a psychiatrist which he had located himself through the internet, with private consultation sessions having taken place via Zoom.

Deemster Graeme Cook agreed to postpone the sentencing in order to have the psychiatric reports before him, but said that the defendant had effectively ‘created the obstruction himself’.

Mr Ashenden was released from court under the same bail conditions, to reside at his home address and not leave the island without court consent.

However, he was given permission to leave the island between April 18 and 30 for a pre-booked holiday to Jamaica.

Ashenden complied with the order to sign on at a police station within 24 hours of returning from his trip.

Prosecutor Mr Kane had argued that the case was far too serious to be sentenced in summary court, pointing out that it involved distribution of images as well as possession of them.

Magistrates declined summary court jurisdiction, and the case is being heard in the Court of General Gaol Delivery.