A 45-year-old man has avoided an immediate jail term for possessing images of children - some as young as three to five years old.

Andrew Peter Crellin appeared for sentencing at the Court of General Gaol Delivery after admitting 12 counts of making indecent images of children.

Sentencing Crellin to 14 months’ jail suspended for two years with two year supervision, Deemster Graeme Cook told him: ‘These offences are disgusting and appalling.’

Crellin was arrested on June 30 last year at his home in Mona Drive in Douglas in relation to an allegation that he’d had a sexual conversation with a 13-year-old girl on a social media platform.

Police seized devices including two mobile phones which when examined were found to contain indecent images of children.

In total there were 58 still images and 15 moving images.

They were categorised using the Copine scale, which measures image severity from one to five, with five being the most severe.

Twenty-two were found to be level one, five at level two, seven at level three and 39 at level four.

Prosecutor Roger Kane said the level four images were of girls aged three to five.

Defence advocate Helen Lobb said the collection of images was small in number and not organised in a sophisticated way. She said her client was a ‘lonely, isolated man’ when he had downloaded the images.

Deemster Cook said: ‘Children are abused by such photos being taken of them. The sooner people like you stop the sooner the abuse will stop as well.

‘There are no victim impact statements because the children are probably unknown. One can only imagine what they might say about how these images came to be taken.’

Crellin was placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and also made subject to sexual harm prevention order, also for 10 years.