A therapist exposed as a pervert for hoarding hundreds of indecent photos of children wept and hugged his wife when he was spared jail.

Nutritional therapist Michael Duffield, 59, got an adrenaline buzz from "disgraceful and disgusting" images of youngsters, some as young as two, a court heard.

Duffield accessed the child porn when he had been drinking and his marriage was under stress.

He pleaded guilty at Batley and Dewsbury Magistrates Court on April 11 to 21 offences of possessing 1,834 indecent images of children amassed over six years.

Prosecutor Emma Downing told Leeds Crown Court yesterday Duffield was caught by Operation Ore, a worldwide crackdown on child pornography.

West Yorkshire Police were tipped off after he paid to access Landslide, a Texas-based website trading in indecent photos of children.

In November police raided his home in Bachelor Lane, Horsforth, and seized two computers and several CDs.

Miss Downing said the images included 16 in the most serious category and 1,067 in the least serious. Most were children aged between seven and 12, but a child of two was among them.

After his arrest on January 23, Duffield told police he looked at the images when he had been drinking. He got "a buzz of adrenaline" knowing he was breaking the law.

Gerald Hendron said in mitigation Duffield never distributed or shared the photos.

He had problems with his marriage, was drinking, and got stimulation from knowing it was illegal.

After his two computers were seized, however, "the enormity of what he had done came down on him".

He turned to antidepressants and had thoughts of suicide. He had now stopped drinking and the probation service said the risk of reoffending was low.

Recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC, told Duffield he should have known better, adding he could draw back from sending Duffield to jail where there would be no help for him.

He sentenced him to a three-year community order coupled with a supervision order.

Dufffield must attend a sex offenders' programme, was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him for working with children under 16, and was placed on the Sexual Offenders' Register for seven years.

The judge warned Duffield that any breach would mean a prison sentence.

Grey-haired Duffield broke down after the sentence. He hugged his wife Wendy and left the courtroom in tears.