A FATHER who has admitted to owning more than 1,000 indecent images of children has been given a sexual harm prevention order as he awaits sentencing.

The Andover man, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday this week after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to three charges of possession of indecent images of children of varying degrees of severity, and four charges of distributing indecent images.

The 45-year-old changed his plea to guilty in relation to two other charges at his crown court appearance this week.

These charges were for encouraging or assisting the commission of a person to distribute indecent images of children, and for encouraging or assisting an adult to engage with sexual activity with a child under the age of 16.

A pre-sentence report will now be prepared ahead of the defendant’s sentencing, set to be at the same court in August.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Evans QC said: “These are serious matters and the court needs to know more about you before sentencing you.

“It is important you comply with the terms of that order, if you don’t it is punishable by imprisonment.”

The defendant remains on bail ahead of his sentencing.