A Hilperton man who had almost 2,000 indecent images of children stored on his computer has been jailed for 15 months.

Former RAF worker Martin Roper, 40, of Walmesley Chase, was caught as a result of the Operation Ore investigation sparked by the closure of an American-based website which peddled child porn.

George Threlfall, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court Roper, a father-of-two, had made a credit card payment to the site in 1999, and downloaded images over the following three years.

Roper pleaded guilty to 16 specimen counts of making indecent images of children.

Roper was also ordered to serve an extended licence of two years after his release to complete a sex offenders' programme and register as a sex offender for 10 years.