A former primary school teacher who downloaded more than 7,000 indecent images of young girls from the internet has been jailed for 12 months by Birmingham Crown Court.
Jonathan Davies, who also took almost 300 obscene photographs of two girls, was ordered to register as a sex offender for the next ten years and banned from working with children under the age of 18.
Davies (36), formerly of Harmer Street, Hockley, admitted 15 charges of making and taking indecent photos.
Sentencing him, Judge Trevor Faber said: "You have worked as a primary school teacher and so are in a position to know more, perhaps even better than anyone else, the sort of damage that could be done to young children by treating them in that way, and making them pose in effect for you to take indecent photos of them".
He also said that the obscenity of the photos he had seen was "stark".
The judge said the offences came to light in October 2005 when police officers executed a search warrant at Davies's Birmingham home and seized computer equipment which contained a large number of photos he had downloaded of young girls in various acts of indecency.
He said police also discovered 286 photos he had taken of the girls using a digital camera.
Peter Cooper, prosecuting, said the downloaded images were of pre-pubescent girls and Davies had also taken some moving images.
Sean Sidhu-Brar, defending, said Davies found difficulty holding down a relationship and by 2004 his life was crumbling around him.
He said he had lost his job and was trying to find a partner through the internet.
