A Langford man has been sentenced to two years and four months behind bars for possessing more than 160,000 indecent images of children.

David Lodge, 48 - of Flexmore Way - was sentenced on Friday, November 8, after being found guilty following a five-day trial at Luton Crown Court.

Last year, Bedfordshire Police was made aware that someone at the address had been accessing indecent images of children on the internet.

Officers attended Lodge's home address on April 18, 2018, where a search of the premises was conducted and various electronic devices seized.

Specially trained officers from the force's Cybercrime Unit examined the devices, which were forensically linked to Lodge, and found thousands of indecent images of children across three devices.

The images and videos were categorised based on seriousness, which included 32 hours of video footage of child abuse material.

During cross examination, the forensic examiner stated that he had not experienced such a large quantity of illegal files over so few devices before.

The indecent files had been downloaded from the internet over a considerable period of time.

Throughout the police investigation, Lodge protested his innocence and pleaded not guilty to the charges of making indecent images of children.

Investigation officer Emma Shipton said: "We are pleased with this positive outcome following the trial, and Lodge will now spend time behind bars.

"Throughout the trial he denied accessing this horrific material, which showed children as young as three years old being abused.

"The viewing and sharing of indecent images of children causes real harm to real children and it will not be tolerated in Bedfordshire, which is why it is vital we investigate such crimes thoroughly."

Lodge will be on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and was handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Parents can visit the Parents Protect website - which is run by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation - at www.parentsprotect.co.uk, for lots of useful resources to help prevent online child sexual abuse.

It also contains a list of organisations and resources focusing on keeping children safe in the digital world.

To report concerns around child sexual abuse call the police on 101.