A 41-YEAR-OLD Blackburn man downloaded 1,380 pornographic images of children during nearly three years of trawling the internet, a court was told.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Paul Stuart Bielby's sordid secret was eventually uncovered with the help of information provided by the FBI.

But Paul Schofield, defending, said his client denied ever paying to visit a child porn site, although he accepted once using his credit card to buy adult images off the internet.

Bielby, of Mowbray Avenue, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to 14 charges of making indecent photographs of children. He was committed on bail for sentence at Preston Crown Court after the magistrates said the custody level for sentencing went beyond their powers.

Bielby was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for a period that will be decided by the Crown Court.

Lisa Worsley, prosecuting, said, acting on the information provided by the FBI, officers executed a search warrant at Bielby's home address.

They seized a computer and numerous computer disks.

A "vast" quantity of indecent images of children was found on the disks and when interviewed Bielby admitted downloading them from the internet and storing them, the court heard. Ms Worsley said: "He said he first got into child pornography by accident when he was searching the web looking for music.

"That lead to the porn sites and from there to the child pornography. He claimed to have developed a morbid curiosity for child sex."

The magistrates were given a copy of the Advisory Panel Guidelines on child pornography which have categorised images into five levels. The images found on Bielby's discs were divided into 684 at level one, 220 at level 2, 358 at level three, 111 at level 4 and seven at level 5, the most serious.

Mr Schofield said Bielby was "thoroughly ashamed" of what he had done.

"He accepts the images were vile and repugnant and he has no excuse to offer.

"The only explanation he can offer is that he developed a morbid curiosity.

"This was something that was forbidden and that he was curious about."

Mr Schofield said there was no suggestion that Bielby had distributed images and he had actually ensured that nobody else could access them.

"There is much he has done wrong but much of the mitigation is about what he hasn't done," said Mr Schofield.

"He has not taken any of the photographs, he was not in a position of trust and there was no distribution or indeed any attempt to distribute these images.

"He hasn't done anyone else any harm, he hasn't developed this vile trade in any way and his behaviour has not affected anyone except himself and his immediate family.

"He is ashamed of himself and wants this dealt with as quickly as possible," he added.