A FORMER Amesbury and Salisbury taxi driver caught with child and animal pornography was spared jail on Friday.

Colin Bruce Fuller of Rollestone Mobile Home Park, Shrewton, was given a five-year community order after pleading guilty to six charges of downloading indecent images of children and possessing images of bestiality.

He was also ordered to complete a three year sex-offender treatment program.

Fuller, who appeared at Winchester Crown Court on his 73rd birthday, had previously denied further charges of distributing child pornography, which will now lie on file.

Police searched Fuller's home in February, seizing two phones containing 11 indecent videos and 166 images, 58 of which were of the most extreme “category A” variety.

The court heard the images were sent to Fuller by people he met through a Freeview chat channel, Rabbit TV.

Judge Susan Evans QC gave Fuller full credit for his guilty pleas and previous good character, but said he was a long way from fully dealing with his offending behaviour.

She ordered his Hackney carriage licence to be revoked and his two phones destroyed.

Representing Fuller, Mark Ruffell said his client had sought treatment “way before” his guilty plea and had shown no signs of “peculiar behaviour” during his ten years as a cab driver.

“He felt so upset by what he had been doing and wanted to find out why he had been doing it,” said Mr Ruffell.

“He couldn't explain it to anybody, least of all himself.

“This was a man living on his own, working six nights, drinking whisky, and trying to find friendship through a TV channel and, unfortunately, he met people who had other ideas.”

Sentencing Fuller, Judge Evans said he had been “engaging in conversations of a concerning nature” and had possessed a significant number “seriously unpleasant” images.

She added that by accepting the files, he had been “maintaining the market for this type of images”.

“It seems to me the best way to protect the public is for you to complete a treatment program,” she said.

Judge Evans said Fuller's crimes had passed the custody threshold, but she could not impose a prison sentence long enough for him to receive treatment in jail.

Fuller was told that if he breached his community order he would be brought back to court and could face a prison sentence.