Shrewsbury paedophile twice spared jail finally locked up for having 180,000 illegal images on 12 different computers

During the hearing, prosecutor Richard Davenport revealed that Evans had two previous convictions for possession of indecent images of children.

In 2001 he was convicted of 10 counts of making images of children, then in 2016 he was convicted of three counts of the same offences.

On both occasions he was spared jail.

Mr Davenport told the court that the latest charges actually related to two separate raids on Evans' home.

First police attended his property in June 2020, where they found eight computers containing thousands of images – some of the worst kinds of abuse of children as young as one year old, and other obscene photos involving animals.

Mr Davenport said the officers had found 566 images in category A – the worst kind - 833 in category B, and 160,332 in category C, along with nine 'extreme' images.

But then in June 2023, while on bail for the initial offences, police received information that Evans was again accessing indecent images of children.

They raided his home again, finding four computers containing 82 category A images, 161 category B images, and 18,754 category C images.

Mr Davenport said that the offences were aggravated by the "extremely high volume of images", and the fact there were 101 category A moving images.

Tom Duggan, mitigating, said he accepted there were "160,000" reasons to send his client to prison.

He said: "This defendant knows he is going down the stairs today. He has brought a bag and his family are here to say goodbye to him."

But Mr Duggan said Evans had made his own efforts to tackle his behaviour prior to the sentencing hearing by contacting the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which works to rehabilitate sex offenders.

He said that it was the first time since 2001 that he had understood the impact of the offending.

He said: "He now understands for the 160,000 images there are real children being harmed."

Sentencing Judge Anthony Lowe said he had no option but to send Evans to jail.

He said: "The reality is for whatever reason you have a deep-rooted sexual attraction to children. The problem with the internet, as it does with a lot of things, not just child pornography, it looks almost as if it is not real – that you can get your sexual kicks without anyone really being harmed, but the reality is far from it.

"They are real children and that child will be damaged beyond all recognition, possibly forever."

He continued: "For what it is worth I believe you genuinely want to understand why you behave in this way, but a lot of people come before me, and they come before me once.

"You were given that chance in 2001, you were given another chance in 2016, and it has not worked - and there comes a time when the court simply has to say the only thing that will work is if you do go to prison, and know what it is like to go to prison next time you are tempted."

He added: "Four times you have been caught committing these offences. You have been committing them for the best part of a quarter of a century, you committed them while on bail and there were significant aggravating factors due to the age of the children and the fact that a number of the images were moving."

Evans was jailed for 34 months for three counts of making indecent images of children, four charges of possessing indecent images of children, and one charge of possessing extreme pornographic images.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 20 years, and must notify the police of his whereabouts for the rest of his life.