A 44-year-old Telford man has been jailed after admitting possessing nearly 200,000 indecent pictures of children.

The court heard the quantity of images found was the largest the investigating detective had encountered.

Alan Morton, of Boulton Grange, Randlay, Telford, was jailed for two-and-a-half years yesterday, at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

He admitted 15 charges, including sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13, two charges of making indecent photographs of a child under 13, possession of 1,237 indecent videos of a child, 10 charges of making indecent videos and images of a child and being in possession of indecent photographs of a child, namely 197,509 images.

The court heard the offen-ces took place between June 2007, and January  2009.

Judge Paul Glenn sentenced Morton to 12 months in prison for the sexual assault, two months on each charge of making indecent photographs of a child, to run concurrently with each other, and 16 months on each of the remaining charges to run concurrently with each other, but consecutive to the other sentences.

Mr Andrew Barkley, prosecuting, said the offences came to light after Morton was involved in a car accident in North Wales and a policeman checked a mobile phone found in his car and discovered images of a child.

Mr Mark Sharman, for Morton, said: “It is right to say he has rightly and properly come to terms with what he has done and he wants help.”