Former RAF officer Jonathan Buckle of Poplar Gardens, worked with vulnerable children – including some who had been themselves been abused, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Loner Buckle, 46, was in the process of downloading more sick images last August when police armed with a warrant searched his home and seized a computer.

Police targeted Buckle after he was identified as having downloaded indecent images from a file-sharing website.

A total of 29,170 indecent images and films were found on Buckle's computer including more than 5,000 at level 4, one of the most serious categories.

Buckle had so many indecent images that police had to apply a cut-off point and viewed only a fraction of the child abuse images on his computer.

Buckle was jailed for 14 months and banned from working with children for life.

Prosecutor, James Keeley said: "He had worked in a children's residential home and was working with children who had been abused themselves."

Buckle, who has no previous convictions, had an "exemplary" 14 years service record in the RAF.

His lawyer David Bradshaw said: "There's no question of any contact of an indecent manner with any child of any age. He is a man who served his country well over many years. He came home to find himself isolated."

Mr Bradshaw said Buckle had tried to commit suicide since his arrest.

Jailing Buckle, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told him: "These are real children being subjected to the most degrading practices it is possible to imagine.

"They are very young children, most of them of three and four years old.
"The consequences for them cannot be overstated. On downloading these images you played your part in their abuse."

After the hearing, Det Con John Higgins, said: "Buckle is another example of a man who has gained a position of trust and as a carer for children.

"He should have been there to protect vulnerable children but instead chose to download and view horrific images of child abuse."

Buckle's name will be on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years.

He had admitted 21 charges of downloading indecent images.