A 57-year-old paedophile caught with almost 170,000 child porn images and movies in Stevenage has admitted the offences.

Richard Fry – of Mercers Row in St Albans, and formerly of Holly Leys in Stevenage – pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children, as well as possessing a prohibited image of a child, when he appeared before Stevenage magistrates on Wednesday.

And chairman of the bench Vivien Marshall has committed the case for sentencing by a crown court judge next month.

The court heard that Fry had been found in Stevenage on May 31 last year with one prohibited image of a child – considered the most explicit – as well as four child porn films defined on the charge sheet as ‘Category A’ indecent images.

In addition, he had 37 movies and 125 images deemed to be ‘Category B’ child porn, and 4,059 movies and 161,959 images described as ‘Category C’.

Fry has been bailed to appear for sentence at Cambridge Crown Court on March 22.

In the meantime he is forbidden to acquire any software that can destroy or delete internet history, or encrypt data.

He is also prohibited from accessing any kind of online pornography or having unsupervised contact with children under 16, unless the child’s parent or guardian is aware of the case and gives consent.