A paedophile who downloaded hundreds of images of children was warned he would face a lengthy jail sentence if he offended again.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told Michael Brook he had “developed a predilection for accessing some very unpleasant, disturbing and destructive pictures of children being abused”.

Judge Durham Hall said the likes of Brook and other perverts, wanting to look at children being abused by adults, fuelled that trade. Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday that indecent images of children had been found on laptops recovered from Brook’s home.

The majority, 464, were level one images, the least serious. There were also 18 level two images, 79 at level three, 44 at level four and two level five images, the most serious.

Prosecutor Mark McKone said Brook, 34, claimed he had inadvertently downloaded the images of children while looking for adult porn.

Brook, formerly of Bradford, now of Haigh Moor Road, Tingley, Wakefield, pleaded guilty to five charges of making indecent photos of a child and one of possessing such photos.

He also admitted separate charges of voyeurism and sexual activity with a female child.

The court heard he used a mobile phone to secretly film the girl.

Judge Durham Hall told Brook he had a “very serious and sinister flaw” in his character, revealed by the proper prosecution of paedophile and perverted tendencies.

He said the filming of the girl was “disgusting.”

The judge sentenced Brook to a three-year community order, with supervision and requirement to attend a sex offender group.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, stopping him from having unsupervised contact with any person under 18, having any such person in his house or car, undertaking employment where he was likely to have access to children, and downloading or viewing any computer images of persons under 18.

Judge Durham Hall said police and probation would be watching him like a hawk and any breach of the order, or further offending, would see the full weight of the law brought down on him “like a ton of bricks,” with five years’ imprisonment just for a breach.