A paedophile pensioner caught with only a few indecent images of children had used a programme to wipe his search history more than 300 times, a court heard.
Michael Tapping found himself living his life online, lonely, isolated and despondent after his marriage broke down, and ended up downloading indecent images of children as young as seven being sexually abused.
The 75-year-old was arrested by Devon and Cornwall Police after they received intelligence from another force about illegal online activity.
Officers executed an arrest warrant at his home in Illogan and found a USB stick and a laptop. Examination of the devices revealed two category A indecent images of children, one category B image and eight category C images, including four moving images. All the images showed boys and girls aged from 7 to 13.
At first Tapping claimed the images were downloaded by mistake, but later told officers he was "intrigued" by paedophilia.
Further examination showed he had used software to erase files and his search history more than 320 times, suggesting there may have been more on his devices than the few images he was charged for.
Tapping, now of Pendarves Street, Tuckingmill, Camborne, faced three counts of making indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child, covering the three categories.
At a sentencing hearing at Truro Crown Court, Matthew Mortimer, mitigating for Tapping, said he had spiralled into downloading indecent images after his marriage ended and he found himself lonely, living his life online.
Mr Mortimer told the court that Tapping had been a man of good character who now suffers the social consequences of his actions, as he is no longer allowed to see his grandchildren unsupervised. He added that Tapping welcomes any help he can get from the probation services.
His Honour Judge Simon Carr reiterated that if it were not for people like Tapping who download or share indecent images for their own gratification, children would not be sexually abused. He said the fact that a cleaning application had been used more than 320 times to remove his search history and files showed Tapping had a far more extensive sexual interest in children than what he was charged with.
Judge Carr said: "You have limited insight into what you committed but have shown genuine remorse for what you did."
He sentenced Tapping to six months in prison, suspended for two years, with 20 rehabilitation days. He also imposed a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and placed Tapping on the sex offenders' register.
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Paedophile Pensioner Erased Search History Over 320 Times