A Newcastle student who had a sick collection of almost 500 child sex abuse images and videos has walked free from court.
Abid Miah's laptop and phone were found to contain 493 indecent images of children as well as horrific videos of very young girls being tortured and sexually abused.
National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators arrested the 21-year-old at his home in Fenham on suspicion of making/distributing and possessing indecent images of children on May 23 last year.
Officers searched his house and recovered the computing student's Samsung mobile phone, a memory stick, and a laptop.
Forensic examination revealed that the phone and laptop contained 493 indecent images of children. There were 177 category A images (the most serious), 157 category B and 159 category C.
Many of the images were hidden in a secret album and an encrypted cloud storage app.
NCA investigators also discovered two horrific category A videos: one of a four-year-old girl being sexually abused and another of another very young girl being tortured and sexually abused.
These videos were known to law enforcement and the children, who were abused abroad, were safeguarded.
After answering "no comment" in interview and originally denying the offences, Miah later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images.
He appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday and was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years.
Miah was put on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, made to forfeit his electronic devices and sent on a rehabilitation course.
Tracy Holbrook, NCA senior investigating officer, said: "Abid Miah possessed some truly horrific material, some of it was the most distressing my team have had to view in a long time.
"Miah tried to conceal his offending by using a fake email address and encrypted storage applications.
"Protecting children is one of the NCA’s biggest priorities and we will do everything we can to safeguard victims and stop offenders."
Child protection charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else’s behaviour towards children.
Information and advice can be found on the Thinkuknow website. Links also include advice for parents, carers and professionals.
