A MAN from Newtown, has been jailed for 18 months and told to register as a sex offender after being caught with a collection of nearly 22,000 indecent images of children, including one he had taken himself of a five-year-old girl.

William Cimadoro, 33, of Lon Pant y Llyn, Newtown was found in possession of 45 Category A indecent image and 73 of Category B on a laptop and hard drive seized from his home.

They also contained 21,844 Category C images.

The material was found after police officers executed a search warrant at Cimadoro’s home and found a laptop and 500GB hard drive near to where he was lying on a sofa.

Prosecutor Karl Scholz told Mold Crown Court that one of the video clips was found to be that of a five-year-old child, which had been taken by the defendant using his iPhone.

“The film, which lasts for 20 seconds, is probably the most troublesome of all the images,” said Mr Scholz.

Google searches on the computer made by Cimadoro also showed he was trying to look for indecent images of children.

Cimadoro told police that “bad stuff” was inadvertently downloaded when he was downloading music and that whenever he discovered such material he would delete it.

Cimadoro, 33, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent photographs of children on May 16 this year.

He also admitted taking an indecent photograph of a child on April 1 this year.

Defence barrister Philip Clemo said Cimadoro should be given credit for pleading guilty, but sentencing him to 18 months in prison Judge Rhys Rowlands said: “The aggravating features are the age of the young girl and the appalling nature of the images.”

The judge also made a sexual harm prevention order and told him to register as a sex offender for 10 years.