AN Ellesmere Port man's internet search terms led to him being convicted for possession of two indecent images.

Chester Crown Court heard on Friday, February 7 that normally when defendants such as 41-year-old Andrew William Brand were convicted of possessing indecent images of children, there would normally be hundreds or thousands of images involved.

But in this case, Brand, of Sutton Way, Great Sutton, had pleaded guilty to possession of one 'category A' image – the most serious kind – and one 'category C' image.

Prosecuting, Iain Criddle said both images had been found on Brand's online email account.

The category A indecent image was of a girl aged between two and four lying on her back while tied up, while the category C image was of a slightly older girl wearing boxing gloves.

Police discovered Brand had made a number of searches on the internet using such terms including 'images of children online', 'child family' and 'pre-teen in diapers pics', as well as a search to a pornography sharing website.

Officers had previously executed a search warrant at Brand's address on August 17, 2018 and recovered a phone and a Kindle, but no indecent images were found on those.

Mr Criddle explained there had been a delay in bringing about the case against Brand as the workload on the police department, particularly for this type of offence, was high.

The court heard Brand had been leading "a very normal life", with no previous convictions, but "with one dark feature of it".

Defending, Gerry Pachter said Brand had entered a prompt guilty plea and did have genuine remorse.

He had first been interviewed about the offence in August 2018 and had this hanging over his head for 18 months, and had not offended since.

Judge Simon Berkson, sentencing Brand, told him: "This is unusual; normally there are numerous images, in this case there are two images only, one of the most disgusting type.

"These are made more serious by your continued denial of your interest and gratification you get from these images, as shown by the type of searches you make on your computer."

Brand received a 12-month community order, to feature 20 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement, and must sign the sex offenders register for the next five year, as well as being placed on a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order limiting his contact with children and use of internet-capable devices.

He must also pay a victim surcharge and £60 prosecution costs.