A SEX offender who had hundreds of thousands of child abuse images on his computer has appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court — after police discovered he was using eight undeclared email addresses.

Peter Trayner, 70, of Queen's Road, Freshwater, appeared at court on Friday, where he admitted one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The order — which requires him to disclose any online aliases to police — was put in place following his conviction in February, 2017.

He was imprisoned for 29 months after 738,000 indecent images of children were found on his computer.

Vivian Ducie, prosecuting, said: "He was released on licence for the last 12 months of his sentence, and the licence expired in July. These offences occurred very shortly after his licence expired, between July 18 and August 16.

"The prosecution would argue it is, in fact, an aggravating feature that he decided to reoffend very shortly after his licence expired."

Barry Arnett, defending, said: "Mr Trayner is a man who is 70 years of age and accepted he did something very wrong in the past, and has accepted his punishment for that.

"When the police found out about these email addresses, for which he gave full admission and explanation, there was no evidence found that they had been used for any wrongdoing.

"It has not been suggested he has done anything particularly serious, or that he had been returning to his old ways at all.

"It is also worth noting that, as a registered sex offender, he can still be subject to spot checks at any time."

Presiding magistrate Peter Redding said: "We believe the fact these email addresses were set up so quickly after the end of your licence does warrant a custodial sentence. However, we are choosing to suspend that sentence."

Trayner was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete ten rehabilitation activity days.

He was also ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a surcharge of £90.

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