A Leeds man who went on the run after being caught with more than 10,000 images of child abuse has been jailed.
Leeds Crown Court heard Pedro Fernandes was on the run for three years before being arrested on an international warrant.
The 48-year-old was jailed for a year and nine months today (Wednesday) after pleading guilty to six counts of making indecent images of children.
Prosecutor Geraldine Kelly said police raided the defendant's home on Harrogate Road in Moortown on November 22, 2017.
She said officers seized a Samsung mobile phone, a HP laptop and hard drives and 10,019 indecent images were later found on the devices.
In the most serious category, there were 1,306 images, including 116 videos.
The images dated back to April 2014 and included children aged between two and 16.
Fernandes had used search terms to find the images and had file sharing software.
One of the images showed a toddler showing signs of physical distress.
Fernandes has no previous convictions.
Satpal Roth-Sharma, mitigating, said her client was born and raised in Portugal before moving to the UK.
She said Fernandes told her he was acting as a vigilante by downloading images to try to identify abusers and bring them to justice.
Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told the barrister: "Can I just tell you that I regard that as being wholly incapable of belief?"
Fernandes was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
