A sexual deviant has been sentenced at Bradford Crown Court for hoarding depraved images of child pornography and bestiality.

James Middleton was told by the judge: “The public are rightly disgusted by this activity and victims must be protected.”

Middleton, 24, who was formerly resident in Mill Close, Settle, pleaded guilty at Skipton Magistrates’ Court to five charges of making indecent photographs and videos of children, between April, 2010, and September, 2012.

They included 439 photographs and three videos at the lowest, level one; 25 photographs and two videos at level two; 111 photographs and six videos at level three, and 147 photographs and 33 videos at level four. They also included seven photographs at the highest level five, that included sadism or bestiality.

Middleton admitted a further charge of possessing 60 prohibited images of a child, between April, 2010, and September, 2012, and possession of 30 extreme pornographic images of people and animals.

On Friday, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC sentenced Middleton, now of Bury, to a three-year community order with supervision and a requirement to attend a sexual offender treatment programme.