A MAN has avoided jail after he admitted downloading images showing child abuse and bestiality.

Paul Sly, who used to live in Bicester but has moved to Stapleford near Nottingham, had 1,500 indecent images of children discovered on his computer in July this year.

The 42-year-old admitted six counts of making indecent images, including 34 at the two highest levels, and possessing one image of “extreme pornography” involving an animal.

Claire Fraser, defending, said Sly’s lifestyle had become “completely dominated by pornography” and he found it “very difficult to resist”.

She said: “As a result of being arrested by the police, he has accepted it for the first time and started to deal with the problem which he has.”

Miss Fraser added that as a result of the case, her client’s wife had left him and he had lost contact with his family.

Judge Gordon Risius sentenced Sly to a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for the indecent images charge and the extreme pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of three years.

He added that Sly would also have to take part in a sex offender treatment programme and be made subject to a sex offences prevention order.