A paedophile caught with child sex abuse images for a second time blamed his Asperger's syndrome and ADHD.
Benjamin Heron was previously convicted of eight counts of downloading and possessing indecent and prohibited images.
His vile collection of more than 1,000 disturbing files included 108 Category A indecent images of children being raped.
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Heron was handed an 18-month community order and a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in December 2018.
The 28-year-old, of Grange Place, Birkenhead, breached the order by deleting his internet history and downloading more sick pictures.
A judge today told Heron his conditions were "no excuse", but the pervert walked free from court after being given "a last chance".
Liverpool Crown Court heard Merseyside Police Sex Offender Unit made a routine visit to Heron's home on October 21 last year.
Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, said officers inspected his mobile phone and found he had wiped his browsing history.
Mr Hopkins said: "The reason he gave to officers was he did not want them to see his sexual interests and what he had been searching for or looking at.
"He said there was nothing that would incriminate him on the phone."
Police experts discovered four Category C indecent images of girls, aged approximately between 11 to 14, on the device.
Mr Hopkins said when Heron was interviewed he confessed and "accepted he had them for the purpose of sexual gratification".
Heron admitted possessing the indecent images and breaching his order.
Andrew McInnes, defending, said: "He suffers from Asperger's and ADHD, diagnosed while he was at school."
He said Heron accepted the case against him and described it to the author of the pre-sentence report as a "relapse".
Mr McInnes said it was clear his client cooperated with the community order and thought he benefited from it.
He said Heron hadn't worked for eight years, partly because of the pandemic and also his previous conviction, and during lockdown while "isolated" and using his computer a lot, had committed the offences, despite trying to get further help.
Mr McInnes said Heron - who had battled suicidal thoughts and self-harming - was "acutely aware he was given a chance" when he received the community order in 2018, but wanted to get help.
The lawyer said: "He's likely to be vulnerable in prison and the intervention would be extremely limited."
Mr McInnes said Heron was assessed by the Probation Service as a low risk of reconviction.
He added: "He apologises for his behaviour, he tried to stop it, but it's clear some serious intervention is required to protect the public in the future."
Judge David Swinnerton told Heron: "You quite deliberately deleted that search history. You said you were embarrassed about some of the sexual content you were looking at and some of it was not illegal."
The judge said Category C was the lowest of the categories, "but that's not to say it's not serious, because what those four pictures were of, was naked or semi-clothed 11 to 14-year-old girls, in provocative poses".
He added: "They are unlawful images, sexual images, of children."
Judge Swinnerton said: "This is not a victimless offence just because you were only looking at pictures, because behind every picture is a child being abused by whoever took the picture. That abuse is encouraged by people like you being a market for these pictures."
The judge told Heron: "You in your pre-sentence report are keen to point out your struggles. I accept there are struggles with autism - you have as I understand it been diagnosed with both ADHD and Asperger's.
"One of the features often of Asperger's is having a kind of obsessively narrow interest. If your obsessively narrow interest is indecent images of children then there is a real problem there for you and for society.
"It's not an excuse - it does not give you a defence that you struggle with Asperger's, do you understand that?
"It's part of the explanation perhaps but it's no excuse, because you know, you know this is wrong, and you did it nonetheless."
Judge Swinnerton said he had "considered carefully" Heron's history and what was said about him in the pre-sentence report.
He said: "You are capable of rehabilitation, you did comply with the last order while you were subject to it. I'm told you sought further help afterwards but that help was not forthcoming."
The judge said because Heron was deemed a low risk of further offending and taking into account his "personal difficulties" and the "reasonable prospects of rehabilitation", he was "just" persuaded to spare him jail.
He gave Heron 16 months in prison, suspended for the maximum two years, with a sex offenders treatment programme and 60-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.
Judge Swinnerton told him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and to comply with a new SHPO for 10 years.
He warned: "This is very much your last chance.
"I'm giving you a last chance because there are signs you're able to take it and that in my judgement is the best way to protect the public in the long term, rather than what would end up being a relatively short time in prison."
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