A 38-year-old man has been spared an immediate jail sentence for being caught a second time hoarding child pornography.

Mark Bailey, of Keighley Road, Cowling, had indecent images of girls aged three to 14 years on his computer when police raided his home on April 20, 2011, Bradford Crown Court heard on Friday.

He pleaded guilty to having 351 illegal photographs of under-age girls posing naked and in sexual positions.

Most of the images were at Level 1, the least serious on the scale, and none were over Level 3, the court heard.

Bailey began collecting the images soon after he was released from a prison sentence in 2007 for similar offences.

In mitigation, it was stated that he had never tried to contact any children and that he wanted treatment for his problem.

Judge Neil Clark sentenced him to 21 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 180 hours of unpaid work. He must attend an accredited sex offender treatment programme.

Bailey must also register with the police as a sex offender for seven years and the judge made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to safeguard young children from him.

Judge Clark told Bailey: “You were enjoying and getting gratification from the misery and upset of children.”