FORMER charity shop manager Paul Smith, 54, of Dunns Court, Holcombe Rogus, has been spared jail after his secret addiction to child sexual abuse images was exposed by three police forces.

Smith lived a double life in which he held down a responsible job as manager of the charity shop in Bridgwater and lived with his partner in Holcombe Rogus, but had hundreds of indecent images on his phones and computers, Exeter Crown Court heard.

He was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to receive two years’ supervision by Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC. Smith was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, allowing the police to monitor his internet use.

Smith admitted one count of distributing, three of making and one of possessing indecent images of children.

Miss Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said that no-one had any idea of his secret obsession with boys as young as five until the National Crime Agency and police forces in Hampshire and Merseyside tipped off the Devon and Cornwall force.

They discovered he had been sharing images and movies showing serious abuse of boys aged five to ten with a network of other men for up to 15 years.

Smith worked as the South West Community manager for Brainwave, which runs a centre in Bridgwater, and had organised a series of high profile fundraisers around the region. He was tracked down because he was sharing images and sexual fantasies about boys with other men.

The National Crime Agency and police identified him and police raided his home, seizing two laptops and an iPhone from his office. He admitted to obtaining images or movies for up to 15 years.

Miss Bolt said: “He described himself as being addicted to child abuse images and to stories of abuse, and was sexually attracted to boys aged five to ten. He realised he had a problem in 2013 or 2014 and started to delete images but still went to chat sites to talk about his fantasies.”

He had a total of 379 images or movies on the devices seized by police, including 86 stills and one movie in the worst category showing serious abuse of children by adults.

In mitigation, Mark Jackson said that Smith resigned from his job as a charity fundraiser and had undertaken courses with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to address his addiction to illegal images.