A PAEDOPHILE caught with a million indecent images of children has been banned from unsupervised contact with youngsters for a decade. 

Michael Wright confessed he combed the internet for pictures and videos of exploited children as young as four, as well as animal pornography.

The 50-year-old sex offender was prosecuted for gazing at 71,048 pictures and 262 videos but had downloaded thousands more, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Wright was given a two-year sentence, suspended for 18 months, and a sexual harm prevention order banning him from unsupervised contact with under-16s for a decade.

Sentencing on Friday, Judge Maria Lamb lambasted the paedophile for having the ‘appalling’ images and warned him not to re-offend.

She added: “People like you who view and download material like that perpetuate the misery of these children.

“If it wasn’t for people like you who were prepared to download and view this material, those who create this sort of material would not operate.”

Police stormed Wright’s house, hearing the paedophile immediately proclaim ‘what you are looking for is on the hard drive, it’s child pornography’.

Officers discovered Wright had been hunting for the illegal material online since 2008 and had downloaded it on to his computer tower and hard drive ‘just before’ he was caught in May 2014.

The indecent material, which he collected through a file sharing network, featured youngsters in ‘obvious pain and distress’, prosecutor Cathy Olliver said.

The prosecutor revealed Wright had actually gawked at a total of 1,771,881 indecent images and nearly 5,000 videos, but she said police are not required to inspect all images.

Defence barrister Tim Greaves said Wright and his family had been caused ‘a great deal of anxiety’ while waiting for his case to come to court.

The ‘vulnerable’ paedophile, who will be forced to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years, has a mild learning disability, as well as problems with his sight and hearing.

A cochlear implant fitted in 2012 helped Wright, of Andersey Way, Abingdon, become more involved in the community and stray from being behind his computer while alone, the barrister claimed.

Mr Greaves went on to say the sex offender, who must pay a victim surcharge and had no previous convictions, would be ‘preyed upon’ by convicts if locked behind bars.

Wright admitted six counts of making indecent photographs of a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image on or before May 21, 2014.

He was also told to do a 15-day cyber safety course and be under the supervision of probation for 18 months. 

Judge Lamb ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the computer equipment.