A dad-of-one caught with child rape photos was "perfectly normal" and just made "bad decisions", a court heard.
Garry Roberts had a sickening collection of indecent images featuring child abuse victims aged as young as five.
The corporate broker said he started looking at them when depressed and seeking "thrills" after his marriage ended.
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But the 54-year-old was spared jail after a judge decided there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation" in his case.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Merseyside Police received information from the National Crime Agency last year about an email address allegedly used to upload indecent images of children online, via the app Kik Messenger.
Officers investigated and identified a Kik account with the username FunBoyUK127, which led them to Roberts' dad's home in Southway, Wavertree, where the insurance worker was living at the time.
Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, said Roberts wasn't present when they raided the address and seized electronic items on March 23, 2020, but was arrested later that day.
When interviewed, he accepted the email address was his and using Kik, but said he didn't recall his username and had since deleted the app.
He denied uploading indecent images of children, but said he did swap pictures not of children on Kik.
When his Samsung Galaxy mobile phone was examined after he provided the PIN, officers recovered 12 Category A indecent images of children - the most serious category showing child rape - involving girls aged as young as five.
There were 51 Category B images, showing girls as young as seven, and 1,130 Category C images, involving girls as young as five.
Mr Taylor said there was no evidence of distribution of the images or of search terms made online normally seen in cases of this type.
Roberts, who has no previous convictions, admitted three counts of downloading and one of possessing indecent images of children.
Mark Shanks, defending, said Roberts had character references from his dad and ex-wife.
He said: "At the time he was living with his father. He had split up with his now ex-wife six years ago. In that time period he had a number of debts with her through the marriage and he spent time paying that off through the time period living with his father.
"His mood and mental health deteriorated somewhat. It wasn't to the point of being medicated, but he found depression creeping in. Then his mother sadly died three years ago, resulting in him feeling he then had to stay with his elderly father.
"He doesn't seek to excuse in any way whatsoever his behaviour. You will note the age of his son and some of the images contain children of a similar age and he's appalled that this could have been friends."
Mr Shanks said Roberts realised the children in the images were victims "regardless of the reasons for him looking at them".
He said: "The best reason he can give, he doesn't seek to excuse it, he started off looking at other legal porn and that simply spiralled downwards, perhaps looking for more risks, more thrills, a bit more danger, and led him to the position he is in now.
"He knows it was wrong and he wants to show the court this will not happen again."
Mr Shanks said Roberts had quit his job working for an insurance company "though he tells me they are an American-based firm with professional rules and guidelines, and this type of offence would have resulted in him losing his job anyway".
He urged the judge to spare Roberts jail because of his "good character" and immediate guilty pleas, so he could be rehabilitated in the community.
Mr Roberts said: "This is a perfectly normal individual who has made some very bad decisions."
Judge Stuart Driver, QC, said sentencing guidelines for the Category A images had a starting point of 12 months in jail, with a range of six months to three years.
He said: "In mitigation you're of previous good character and I've read references about you and you having a good employment record.
"You have already begun to rehabilitate yourself and the sentence will be reduced by one third for your plea of guilty."
Judge Driver handed Roberts eight months in jail, suspended for 18 months, with a 20-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.
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He said: "I'm able to do that because there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
"That means you must commit no offences over the next 18 months and you must do as your probation officer tells you.
"If you fail, the case will be reserved to me, and if I see you again, you can expect to go to prison for eight months."
The judge ordered him to comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and sign on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
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