A FLINTSHIRE man has avoided a jail sentence despite being in possession of 433 indecent images, 80 of which were deemed to fall into ‘category A’.

Mark Hillman, of Llys Argoed, Mynydd Isa, appeared at Mold Crown Court yesterday.

The 47-year-old had previously admitted that between June 2017 and June 2021 he made 433 indecent images or pseudo-images of children.

Of those, there were 80 in category A, 61 in category B and 292 in category C.

He also admitted that between the same dates he possessed extreme pornographic movies portraying a sexual act with an animal.

In Mold Crown Court, he was handed a 10-month suspended sentence for a period of two years.

The court head that on June 9, a search warrant was carried out at Hillman’s home.

After initially denying all knowledge, a Google account which was already under investigation by police was found to be linked to Hillman.

The search continued and he directed police to the garage where a Nokia phone was seized from a cardboard box and found to contain hundreds of indecent images and further videos containing what was believed to be girls aged between two and 12 years old.

The court heard 399 still images were found on devices, as well as 22 video clips. 80 of these were deemed to be category A.

Hillman told his barrister he had “accepted that he had a sexual interest in children” and added: “I want to be fixed”.

His barrister said the defendant was ‘well known in the community’ having been involved in football and due to him running his own business, which was now ‘massively in jeopardy’.

A plea was made for Judge Rowlands to “punish” Hillman, but also “help him get back on his feet”.

Judge Rowlands said there was “potential for rehabilitation”, before adding: “It is plain to me you have an unhealthy, unnatural and depraved sexual interest in children.”

Hillman was handed a 10-month suspended sentence, 60 days of rehabilitation and a total fine of £1,560.

He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders register for 10 years. He faced no separate penalty for the category B, category C or extreme images charges.