10 MONTHS' JAIL FOR CHILDPORN; Sentence not enough, says charity.

Byline: by MICHELLE FIDDLER Chief Reporter

A CHILDREN'S charity has condemned a 10-month jail sentence for a 'prolific' collector of indecent images who was caught with the largest number of child porn pictures on Merseyside.

Michael Morgan, 26, formerly of Hastings Road, Waterloo, had admitted downloading a total of 395,073 indecent images.

It is thought to be one of the largest collections in the country.

Of those nearly 300 were of the most serious kind.

David McLachlan, prosecuting at Liverpool crown court, said the discovery was made after an FBI investigation in America in 2004.

Officers in San Francisco began an investigation into a child abuse website after they received information about an account held by a man in the US. When they accessed the man's account records they were able to identify individuals, including Morgan, who had paid him for membership to an illegal website. Mr McLachlan described Morgan, who now lives in West Lothian in Scotland, as a "prolific collector" of indecent images but said there was no evidence he attempted to distribute them.

Andrew Downie, defending, said the defendant had become addicted to the images, and did not have the force of personality to combat his addiction.

He said that since his arrest, Morgan had undergone counselling and there was no suggestion that he had attempted to download any more pictures.

He said Morgan was "deeply remorseful" for his actions.

Judge Willliam George told Morgan: "I am torn between you as an individual and my duty to protect the public."

Morgan was jailed for 10 months for each offence to run concurrently.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offender register for 10 years and prohibited from working with children until further notice, or installing computer equipment which encrypts or deletes user history.

But Claude Knights, director of children's charity Kidscape, said: "These are not victimless crimes.

"Every picture, every image is a crime scene.

"At these levels and quantity you are really trading in and perpetuating the market of horrific images of children.

"We are not sending out a message to society with a 10-month sentence that it is abhorrent and a travesty.

"It is very disappointing."

email michellefiddler@liverpoolecho.