A RETIRED music teacher from Farnham who admitted making hundreds of the most serious child sex abuse videos has been spared a jail sentence.

Paedophile Alan Bowry, 71, of Lyall Place, pleaded guilty to making 205 Category A moving indecent images of a child – considered to be the ‘most severe’, typically involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal or sadism – over an 11-year period between April 2007 and August 2018.

During the same time frame, Bowry also admitted making:

* Seven Category A still indecent images of a child;

* 242 Category B moving indecent images of a child;

* 32 Category B still indecent images of a child;

* 99 Category C moving indecent images of a child; and

* 23 Category C still indecent images of a child.

Bowry also admitted possessing a prohibited image of a child.

However, at his sentencing hearing at Guildford Crown Court on March 13, Judge Jonathan Black spared Bowry a jail term, instead letting him off with a community order.

The court was told Surrey Police carried out a search warrant of his property last December and found more than 500 videos and images of child sexual abuse had been downloaded and then stored on to hard drives by Bowry.

He reportedly told officers when he was caught “I’m sexually attracted to children” and had searched online for specific terms online such as “pre-teens”.

Bowry was a freelance music teacher to adults, and his job role did not involve interaction with children.

Referring to his stash of indecent videos and images as a “curated collection”, prosecutor Charles Royal told the court: “He said he was sexually attracted and that he had masturbated to some of the movies, but said he didn’t do that any more.”

In sentencing Bowry, Judge Black spoke of the suffering endured by victims of child sexual abuse.

“They will know they cannot remove those images from the internet and that they will be there for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Bowry’s community order will last for a period of 18 months, requiring him to undertake 30 hours of rehabilitation activities and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He has also been given a five-year sexual harm prevention order and will have to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.