A man has been handed a community order after police found CDs containing indecent images of children strewn around his home.

Paul Lambert, 64, of Broad Hinton, near Twyford, appeared before Reading Crown Court this afternoon (March 20).

The court heard that Lambert downloaded almost 100 indecent and extreme images - one of them in the highest category - to a laptop, hard drive and set of CDs kept at his home.

Police raided his home on July 30, 2019, and seized his devices and CDs.

Investigators determined that the indecent images depicted children aged eight to 13. Metadata showed they had been downloaded by the defendant in 2018.

Defence barrister Roger Sahota said the bulk of the images were in Category C, with only one falling into Category A - the most serious class.

Alongside these, two extreme pornographic images were recovered.

Lambert has claimed he was not aware some of the images were illegal, as they were stored alongside legal images.

Mr Sahota told the court: "He [the defendant] had at some point downloaded large quantities of pornographic images, some of them illegal."

Despite this, Lambert pleaded guilty to charges of possessing indecent images of children in Categories A and C, as well as one count of possessing extreme pornographic images.

Sentencing, Judge Kirsty Real noted that he had admitted the offences at an early opportunity, and demonstrated remorse.

Among other steps, he had voluntarily entered a paedophile reform programme.

The judge told Lambert: "What does shine through is that regret and remorse, and the steps you have taken yourself in undertaking a programme [of] steps towards rehabilitation."

As a result of this, Lambert will not face jail time. Instead, he was handed an 18-month community order, including 35 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work.

In addition, he must pay £1,500 towards the costs of his own prosecution, and is being made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years. Lambert will also be made to register as a sex offender.