A FORMER Army mechanic who shared child abuse images on social media has avoided a suspended jail sentence.

David John Ian Lumsden, formerly of Tidworth but now of Hatch Lane in Harmondsworth, was found to have more than 400 extreme pornographic pictures, as well as 37 child abuse images.

The court was told how police raided his barracks in Aldershot in April 2019 where they found the prohibited images on an Acer laptop and an iPhone.

The 23-year-old's stash, which came about as a result of a "morbid curiosity", included "a small number" of videos, according to Matilda Robinson-Murphy.

The prosecutor added: "He explained he was an administrator of a network that distributes images on Kik [messenger]."

Winchester Crown Court was told on Tuesday that Lumsden had a "promising career" in the Army, but had been dismissed the day he appeared in court.

"He had joined the Army at 16 and worked very hard," his solicitor Felicia Davy said.

"He trained himself as a mechanic and was exemplary in his attitude towards his duties.

"He was 21 at the time of his arrest. He held his hands up to his own responsibility. As a teenager going into that environment, it seems there has been an interest that has gone too far."

Judge Andrew Barnett, Recorder of Salisbury, told Lumsden that he believed the public interest would be better met with him serving a longer community sentence, rather than a shorter suspended prison sentence.

He added: "All of these are quite revolting matters that you have been viewing for your own sexual gratification and you should be deeply ashamed of your behaviour.

"You are 23 years of age, you have no previous convictions, you had an Army career and you have been dismissed which is a great sadness."

Recorder Barnett added that he had "impressed" the author of his pre-sentence report from the probation service at his attempts at rehabilitation.

He gave him a three-year community order, which includes treatment for sex offenders, 15 rehabilitation activity days and 60 day of unpaid work.

He is also subject to a five-year sexual harm prevention order, banning him from owning a device with internet connection unless he informs police.

Lumsden pleaded guilty possessing indecent images of a child, possessing prohibited photos of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images at an earlier hearing in January.