A 20-year-old student from Farnham has received an eight-month sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to possessing almost 700 indecent photographs of children.

Harry Nichols, who had just completed the first year of an animation degree at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Farnham, was arrested in Cornwall in August while staying at his family home, and charged under Section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

He pleaded guilty to all charges and sentencing was adjourned until September 26 in Guildford, by which time he had returned to his term-time address in Dollis Drive.

Nichols’s crime was discovered through an account on X which was linked to an email address through which Nichols had uploaded 262 category B indecent images of children.

The email account and IP address were traced back to Nichols and three devices he owned – two iPhones and an iPad – and in total he pleaded guilty to possessing 693 images between December 2021 and November 2024.

Although the crimes carried up to 12 months imprisonment the court handed down the eight-month suspended sentence in recognition of mitigating circumstances, which included Nichols’s history as the victim of severe sexual abuse as a child and the trauma that this had induced.

He was remorseful, accepted full responsibility and was motivated to engage with any help to prevent reoffending, leading probation officers to recommend a non-custodial sentence.

Nichols’s sentence also imposed strict conditions, including the requirement to attend 26 sessions of the government’s Building Choices cognitive-behavioural programme aimed at developing skills to live a crime-free life, as well as a 15-day rehabilitation programme and 150 hours of unpaid community work.

He will remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years and a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) now severely limits his use of the internet and of devices. If he breaks the SHPO he could face up to five years in prison.

Nichols was also fined £85 costs with a £154 surcharge.

Nichols’s family have stood by him. His brother accompanied him to court and his mother and grandmother had both written letters to the court on his behalf.

However, his former coursemates and fellow students from UCA were less forgiving. Seven were in court to witness the sentencing and expressed their disgust and anger at the sentence.

None wanted to be named but were all of one mind when speaking after the sentencing.

One woman said: “I don’t care what trauma he has gone through; he is a grown man who knows right from wrong”.

Two said that they were thinking of the children they worked with in part-time jobs and how crimes such as these could affect them, and all said they felt deceived by someone they had considered a friend.

“He lied to us, even when plain clothes police officers came to the house we shared with him. He said it was about drugs. What he’s done is disgusting. He’d better not show his face at university again. No-one wants him there.”