A sex offender who amassed a collection of more than 400,000 child sexual abuse images has been jailed.
Scot Fox, 46, was arrested when police uncovered evidence linking him to the online purchase of indecent material.
An investigation was started and Fox was arrested at this home address in Arnold in September last year.
Officers seized a number of electronic devices and later uncovered a total of 402,017 photographs and videos – mainly stored on a single computer.
More than 7,500 of those images were rated as category A, depicting the most serious acts of sexual abuse that can be committed against children.
Fox, of Catlow Walk, immediately admitted his offending to officers and said he’d been collecting the images for around 20 years.
He later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. The charges relate to the act of saving and storing the material.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday he was jailed for two years. In addition he was added to the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years, and also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order that will tightly restrict his on-line activity when he is released from jail.
Detective Constable Tom Nuttall, of Nottinghamshire Police’s paedophile online investigation team, said: “This was one of the largest collections of child sexual abuse images we have seen for a long time.
“In total our digital forensic investigators had to review and categorise more than half a million images in this case so I would like to thank all those involved for their hard work and professionalism. I would also like to thank my colleagues in our financial investigation unit who originally alerted us to Fox’s suspicious online behaviour.
“People who download and view this kind of material may not believe they are doing any harm, but in reality they are helping to fuel a depraved cycle of abuse that causes immense physical and emotional harm to children all over the world.
“That’s why we dedicate so many resources to finding and punishing the people who are consuming this material in our communities.”
