Police who searched the Birmingham home of a trainee pub licensee discovered he had been involved in large scale trading in child pornography, the city's crown court was told.
When Oliver Smith's computer was examined it was found he had received or distributed almost 2,000 indecent images via email, it was claimed.
Smith (39), formerly of Rotherfield Road, Sheldon, denies four charges of making indecent photos, four of distributing them, and two of possessing them.
Roderick Henderson, prosecuting, said Smith had lived at the address with his wife, son, and his wife's mother, before separating from his wife in 2003 and moving to London after meeting his new partner through a chat room.
He said 2,114 obscene images of children were found on the computer Smith had used and that films were recovered from floppy discs.
Mr Henderson said Smith's email exchanges were also examined and it was revealed he had received 949 photos and sent out 1,057.
He said when interviewed Smith denied trading in child pornography, claiming his computer had a virus or may have been hacked in to.
Mr Henderson said Smith had used "washer" software in a bid to remove traces of his searches on the internet for child pornography, but had failed to eliminate all the material.
He said another computer had been recovered from an address in Birmingham containing indecent photos sent from an email account used by Smith.
Mr Henderson said Smith had exchanged emails with a man called Michael Laird, who had been convicted of trading in child pornography, and had "bragged" to him about a sexual experience he had had with a child.
He said Laird, who was currently serving a long sentence, would be giving evidence and would tell the court that he had met Smith and that the defendant had asked him to save indecent photos for him.
The trial continues.
