A MAN who stole underwear from his neighbours' gardens in Abingdon has been found not guilty of making indecent photographs of children but guilty on four other counts.

Perry Granville, 39, of Saxton Road, was remanded in custody at Oxford Crown Court this afternoon.

He let out a sigh of relief in the dock after the jury took more than five hours to reach a verdict. The prosecution had alleged that there were eight indecent images on his iCloud account.

The conclusion of the case means legal restrictions on the earlier charges have now been lifted and it can be reported that Mr Granville was found guilty on four other counts last month, in a case involving a haul of women’s underwear and three sex toys.

He was found guilty on June 27 of burglary, attempted burglary and two counts of theft. The jury was unanimous on the count of burglary and convicted by 11 to one on the other counts.

Mr Granville had stashed stolen underwear and sex toys in two garages snatched from houses and washing lines near his home, over a period of years.

When police searched his home in August 2016 – after a neighbour's suspicions about missing underwear - they also seized an iPad and phone, on which the indecent images were found.

He denied all of the charges and said he did not know how the images or underwear came into his possession.

The court heard Mr Granville's DNA was found on the sex toys – something he claimed was a coincidence, adding he may have sneezed on them.

In summing up today’s case, Judge Zoe Smith told the jury: “What concerns me about this man is that he has a sort of addiction that is out of control - actually going into people's houses and stealing knickers.”

The jury were not shown the images, but Judge Smith said there was ‘no doubt’ that they were indecent.

She also explained to the jury: "There mere act of downloading to a computer is considered ‘making’ an indecent image. A person who did so would be guilty of an offence under this statute (the Protection of Children Act 1978).

“On August 30, during a search of the defendant’s house, his iPad and phone was seized. He was asked questions about them at the time.

“He said that the phone and iPad were his and that no one else had access to them. When asked he said no indecent images would be found there.

“It’s the defendant’s case that he never knowingly downloaded an indecent image of a child.

“It doesn’t matter if there is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven or eight: if there is an indecent image there that is sufficient.

Mr Granville claimed that he had never seen, searched for or saved any such images, Judge Smith added.

Sentencing takes place at Oxford Crown Court on August 17.