THOUSANDS of disturbing images and movies of child abuse found on a council worker’s computers have put him behind bars for two years.

Jamie Osborn, 41, of Gooch Street, had amassed the catalogue of media over a seven-year period and distributed them to like-minded people over the internet.

Canadian police provided a tip-off to Wiltshire officers after the North American force busted a firm selling paedophilic DVDs around the world.

Osborn, who worked as a sports assistant with Swindon Council, said he was distributing the material as a courtesy to an online community which shared his interests.

Officers in Toronto had raided a company which sold the DVDs and pictures. They found Osborn splashed out £650 on 25 movies with the firm.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre received the initial tip off.

After a search of his home in December 2013, officers discovered he had stored more than 250 videos and at least 2,450 pictures of abused children, some as young as two.

Two computers were taken away and found to be loaded with the material.

There were saved searches on his internet browsers such as ‘young boys sex’ and ‘naturalist boys’.

It emerged Osborn had sent more than 1,500 of the files by email to 16 different people he had come into contact with over the web.

Ms Hingston said five of the films sent across the Atlantic contained illicit material, with the others showing child nudity.

Osborn pleaded guilty to eight counts of making, five counts of distributing and one of possessing indecent images of children.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client had already sought help for the problem from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

“Everything one learns about Mr Osborn suggests to me he is a man who has lived the life of a loner for a very long time,” he said.

“He sought refuge, by his own admission, in this material for several hours a week.

“He was able to divide this interest in looking at images from any suggestion that he would contemplate any physical contact.

“Immediately after he was confronted he began to seek assistance in how to put himself back on track.

“Whatever sentence he gets he won’t have a job as a recreational assistant with Swindon Borough Council. He has to rebuild his life at the age of 41.”

Jailing him for two years, Judge Peter Blair QC said: “You are likely to be barred from ever working with children by the barring authority.”

He also imposed a sexual harm prevention order restricting Osborn’s liberty for five years and told him he must register as a sex offender.