A civil servant who downloaded more than 28,000 indecent images of children from the internet said it was no more than ‘stamp collecting’.

Steven Hawkins, of Fairwood Close, Hilperton, Trowbridge, catalogued and stored the vile pictures and movies on CDs and DVDs, many of which he then protected with 10 layers of encryption.

The married 53-year-old told the police he got no sexual gratification and that he hoarded the images in the same way people collect stamps or coins.

Now Hawkins, a civilian MoD worker who the court heard held a ‘responsible job with the Navy’, has been jailed for a year.

Judge Euan Ambrose, sitting at Swindon Crown Court on Friday, told him “It is very far from stamp collecting. The interest in these images and the market that this interest creates is what drives the production of the images and the production involves the abuse of children, and very young ones at that.”

George Threlfall, prosecuting, told how police raided his home in July 2009 after receiving information that he had been downloading child pornography.

When they took away his computer and storage media they found 28,114 indecent pictures and a further 199 movies of children. Among the more serious images he said two-thirds were of children under 13, and a sample of the less serious all fell into the younger category.

The last images had been created the day before the police raid and the first in October 1997, almost 12 years earlier.

Many of the more serious images involved the abuse of children under 10, and some as young as five.

He had also been typing entries for ‘pre teen hardcore’ pornography and similar terms into search engines.

When police examined the storage media they found more than 3,000 encrypted files, none of which could be accessed without unlocking.

Hawkins pleaded guilty to one count of possession and 13 of making indecent images of children.

Mike Jeary, defending, said since his arrest his client has been on a course run by charity The Lucy Faithful Foundation to address his offending.

He said the reason for encrypting the files was to stop anyone else, such as his wife, finding them and he gave the passwords to police when they asked.

The judge said: “You have, in due course, entered guilty pleas to all charges, having initially denied them in interview and having maintained for a long time that this was innocent possession, nothing to do with you. Then possession came on the back of adult pornography, then possession in the form of some urge to collect images rather than getting any sexual gratification from it relating it to stamp collecting. It is very far from stamp collecting.”

As well as jailing him the judge also banned him from working with children and told him he must register as a sex offender for 10 years.