A PAEDOPHILE who downloaded hundreds of “repulsive” images of children as young as two and shared some online has been spared jail so he can receive sex offender treatment.

Former cleaner Stephen Rogers, 44, was found with a stash of child abuse pictures and videos on his computer, memory stick and mobile phone.

He downloaded 848 files – including 269 of the most serious, category A images – over four years.

Officers tracked him through Twitter where he shared 15 mostly category C images with other users.

Prosecuting at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday, Tessa Hingston said Rogers, of Roman Road, Salisbury, had added his own comments to the images in which he fantasised about abusing the children.

Alongside one picture, he wrote: “I can’t wait to get my little sister’s school friends round tomorrow, they do dress a bit like this. Yum yum.”

Other comments too obscene to print were described by the judge as “frankly appalling”.

Miss Hingston said Rogers’ Twitter profile stated that he loved young boys and girls and wanted to swap pictures, and his internet history showed searches for pre-teen hardcore pornography.

Police raided Rogers’ house on November 15 and arrested him. He made full admissions in interview.

Defending, Nicholas Cotter described Rogers as a “sad” and “desperately lonely” man who had lived a “fantasy life”.

“He’s got a rather tragic life and it has become even more tragic now,” he said.

Judge Richard Parkes said the “repulsive” images showed young boys and girls, aged between two and 12, “having the most dreadful things done to them”.

“In some cases it seems you accompanied the photos with frankly appalling commentary,” he said, “indicating a fantasy about sexual relations with young children.”

He added: “Were it not for the fact that you were suitable for sex-offender treatment, I would send you immediately to prison without the slightest hesitation.”

But Judge Parkes said he could not jail Rogers for long enough for him to complete the two-year treatment programme while in prison.

He said: “It seems to me that the public interest in having you treated, in the hope that this is the last offending of this kind you are guilty of, outweighs the public interest in people like you being sent to prison straight away.”

Sentencing him to a total of 20 months, suspended for two years, with a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, Judge Parkes said it was “a sword hanging by a thin thread” above his head.

An NSPCC spokesman said: “The youngsters in these pictures and videos, many of which fell into the most serious category, are the victims of child abuse and the horrific experiences they endured for the images to be created should not be underestimated.”