A petrol shop worker who downloaded almost 2,000 images of child pornography onto his iPhone has avoided jail time.

Ellis Gillett accessed the material, which featured children as young as three months old, through the Kik Messenger app.

The 43-year-old was caught after police traced the Kik account to his home address and seized his mobile phone.

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Prosecutor Matthew Knight told Oxford Crown Court today (Thursday, November 16) that the “large majority” of the material was made up of still images.

There were also four videos, the court heard.

Mitigating, George Joseph said that Gillett, who lives with his parents in Dashwood Road, Oxford, was “scared, embarrassed and ashamed of his actions”.

Gillett will serve a 10 month suspended sentence.

Judge Nigel Daly gave him a 10 month sentence for the Class A material, with concurrent sentences of five months for the Class B material and two months for the Class C material.

He said: “You were in possession of child pornography. Some of it of a very serious nature, and a couple of those images have been described in this court.

“There are a total of nearly 2,000 images. We have heard about one or two of them.

“The reason I have suspended the sentence is because I want probation services to work with you.

"Not just so that they can help you but in helping you, they will help children in particular and the general public because every one of those nearly 2,000 images involve a child.”