A former police officer in Northern Ireland who downloaded over 5,000 images of child abuse has been jailed for three years.
The 32-year-old from Newtownabbey was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for the rest of his life and was banned from working with children.
Last July, police officers searched the home of Aaron Payne and seized his computer for inspection.
On it they found images of child abuse involving victims as young as five and no older than 12.
Today at Belfast Crown Court, Payne, who quit the PSNI upon his arrest last year, pleaded guilty to 25 counts of making indecent images of children on dates between February and April 2008.
Judge Tom Burgess described the images as abhorrent and disgusting acts. The court was told that when the then policeman was arrested, he told officers that he would have taken his own life if he had known they were coming.
He was sentenced to three years in jail with the provision that instead of being released on remission, the 32-year-old be released on licence that he receive psychological counselling.
In addition he was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and banned from working with children.
