A WINCHESTER man has narrowly avoided prison after admitting possessing appalling images of children being sexually tortured.

Judge Richard Parkes QC told Endrew Villenyik: "People like you create the demand which results in these children being tortured in these appalling ways."

Villenyk, 38, of The Broadway, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images and one of possessing extreme pornographic images.

In total police found 406 illegal images on his computer, tablet and mobile phone, said Simon Edwards, prosecuting.

The images were discovered when police, acting on information, raided his flat on January 28 2014.

The judge said the offences were so serious they warranted immediate prison sentences. Some of the children were only two years old. "It involved the most appalling acts being done to these young children."

Robert Simpson, mitigating, said Villenyik initially struggled to come to terms with the magnitude of what he had done.

Villenyik attended court in a black shirt, black jacket and grey trousers, a shaven head and goatee beard. He was of previous good character.

The judge imposed a ten month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered he do 200 hours unpaid work over the next 12 months.

The judge also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will run for ten years, restricting his use of the Internet and the computer. Villenyik most show his computer on demand to the police.