A man who had indecent photographs of children and videos on a Kindle was told a 12-month prison sentence was usually the starting point "for the sort of filth you were viewing".
The comment was made by Judge Stuart Rafferty QC as he sentenced a man for looking at the disturbing images.
The sentence could have run up to three years in custody for someone who had pleaded guilty, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
But the judge decided on a three-year community order and 60 rehabilitation activity days for defendant 55-year-old Michael Douglas.
Since the offences he has been working hard with such organisations as The Safer Living Foundation, which focuses on reducing sexual offending and re-offending through rehabilitative and preventative initiatives.
The judge told Douglas in the dock: "For someone like you, with your past, a prison sentence is the last thing you would ever want".
Douglas, of Fern Lea Avenue, Cotgrave, must now sign the sex offenders' register and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years, and the judge confiscated his Kindle.
Previously a man of good character, he faced police at his home where they found still and moving images on the Kindle.
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There were 13 images and 138 videos in Category A - the most serious; 11 images and 28 videos in Category B; 12 images and three videos in Category C. They were of young girls with ages from three or fours years to about 14 or 15 years.
Douglas pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent photographs of children; distributing them, and possessing extreme pornographic images.
Nine additional videos were classed as extreme pornography.
The offences date back to July 2016, said Matthew Smith, mitigating, and since then he has "done everything he can to address the root cause of his offending behaviour".
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