A former deputy mayor of Peterborough has been spared an immediate jail term after being convicted of downloading child pornography.
John Johnson (63), of Deerleap, Bretton, who was deputy mayor between 1999 and 2000, had already admitted to downloading 714 indecent images of children, including six at the most severe legal classification - when he appeared at Peterborough Crown Court for sentencing.
Cheryl Williams, prosecuting, told the court the indecent images - which included 546 at level one, 15 at level two, 82 at level three and 65 at level four - had been downloaded over a period of six or seven years.
Police carried out a warrant at Johnson’s home on January 24 last year after his internet provider address was linked to indecent images.
Miss Williams said all of the images had been deleted from the computer and had to be recovered forensically.
Representing Johnson, Benedict Peers, said: “He has lived a law-abiding life in public service and he expresses to the court his deep, deep sense of shame that he is here today to be sentenced for these offences.”
He said Johnson began offending after turning to alcohol after the breakdown of his marriage and sudden death of his parents and sister.
He said: “He began to experiment on the internet, simply, in his words, looking for something to ‘wake him up’.”
Mr Peers told the court Johnson had been searching for adult material, but “in drink” clicked on links to the indecent images.
He said police also found about 20,000 images of lawful pornography on the seized computer.
Judge Peter Murphy said if there had been any question Johnson had distributed the images, profited or even paid for the images he would have sent him to prison.
He said: “I think to impose such a sentence today would be an admission of defeat and one that would be negative.”
Johnson received a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, on condition that he is placed under supervision for two years and attends alcohol and internet sex offenders treatment programmes.
He was also made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order and will be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.