A MAN who downloaded 'abhorrent' pictures of people having sex with animals was also in possession of indecent photos of girls as young as eight.

Analysis of Robert Alan Riley’s internet history revealed he had searched for phrases such as ‘is it normal to be attracted to teenage girls’ while he was surfing the web.

The 29-year-old appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced for possession of 423 extreme pornographic images involving animals.

Riley had also pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a further two counts of making indecent images by downloading them.

The court heard how an investigation was launched into Riley’s internet habits in October 2017 when police attended his home in Printer Fold, Burnley, with a search warrant.

They seized several devices with analysis later discovering the sick animal porn images.

During the search the defendant said to police officers ‘I know I’ve been messing about a bit but I didn’t realise it was this serious’.

Almost 18 months later in January 2019 a second warrant was executed, with the defendant providing consent for the police to have access to his Cloud account, an online data storage platform.

One category B image and three category C images were found on a Dropbox account, with a further two category C images found on a Motorola phone owned by Riley.

Search terms on the defendant’s phone included ‘young schoolgirl barely legal teen’ and ‘very young schoolgirls porn videos’.

Imposing a three-year community order upon Riley, Judge Simon Medland QC said: “To indulge in pornographic images of children and animals is intrinsically abhorrent and unlawful.

“Children are entitled to be just that – children. They are not sexual objects. Neither are animals and you had a considerable quantity of porn.

“However this has to be balanced against your good character and you impressed the author of your pre-sentence report.”

Judge Medland QC attached 30 rehabilitation requirement days to the order and a requirement to attended any programme as directed by the probation service.

He will also now be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years and subject to notification requirements.