A PAEDOPHILE who took pictures of naked children had been downloading disgusting images for more than 15 years.

More than one million sick child sex abuse pictures and videos were found on devices belonging to Michael Swann following a police raid.

The 55-year-old of Lockerbie Close, Houghton Green, told officers how he had a sexual interest in children, both boys and girls.

And he also admitted that he was sexually interested in one little girl he had taken a disturbing image of.

 “In my judgement, you have an insatiable, deviant, and depraved interest in young children,” Judge David Aubrey KC told Swann before sentencing him to jail at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday.

The defendant, who has previous convictions for similar offences which date back to 2003, previously pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent images of children, possessing prohibited images of children, and taking indecent images of children.

Prosecuting, Zahra Baqri said how Swann’s offending spans from July 2008 to March 2023 which is when his home was raided by officers.

Ms Baqri said that officers seized a number of devices from Swann, namely five computers, five memory sticks, two hard drives, a computer tower unit, a media card, and a mobile phone.

In total, more than one million images were found of all types of categories, including category A, the worst type.

The court heard that due to the volume of material, not all of it was able to be categorised. But some was of children as young as just two years old.

The material was also stored in folders which was ‘readily accessible’.

Ms Baqri said that on Swann’s devices, 34 sick images of children were found that he had taken himself.

Swann admitted in police interview that he had a sexual interest in one of these children.

“He said he know what he was doing was wrong but that said he was too scared to ask for help,” Ms Baqri said.

“He said he gained sexual gratification when he searched for material and he said that viewing the photographs and videos was a lift and release.”

Swann has seven previous convictions for 22 offences, the majority of which are of relevance to his most recent offending.

Defending, Helen Chenary said: “He accepts that he has an issue with his sort of behaviour, this is a mitigating factor but also a troubling one.

“He has been given support in the past, yet he clearly still struggles. But he would like the assistance again.

“He is nothing but apologetic for his behaviour and he knows that he needs help.”

Concluding, Judge Aubrey said: “In my judgement you have an insatiable, deviant, and depraved interest in young children.

“All the images you downloaded whether that is photographs or videos, many of which you stored, perpetuate the abuse and exploitation of young children.

“They are all victims and by doing what you were doing over a protracted period of time not only perpetuates the abuse and sexual exploitation, it perpetuates the market.”

Swann was handed five years behind bars.

A 15-year sexual harm prevention order was also imposed and Swann is subjected to notification requirements indefinitely.