Kineton man claimed images of abuse were to get NHS' attention

But that was rejected by a judge who observed that if Paul Walker had wanted to draw attention to himself, he could have stolen a bar of chocolate from a shop.

Walker, 40, of St Peter’s Road, had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children – some of which included babies.

He was sentenced to six months in jail suspended for two years and ordered to take part in a rehabilitation activity, to register as a sex offender for seven years, and to pay £100 costs.

Prosecutor Russell Pyne said that after Walker came to the attention of the police, his home was visited in July last year, and his phone and a tablet computer were seized.

The phone was found to have contained 33 indecent images of children, while the tablet had 23, although all of them were inaccessible, having been deleted.

Having been bailed after the police visit, Walker was re-arrested after the images were found – and commented: “I know they were there. It was the only way to get the NHS to listen to me.”

When he was then interviewed Walker, who had no previous convictions, declined to elaborate on what he meant.

But Mr Pyne suggested: “The likely reason for the accumulation of these images is an interest in young children.”

Kate Hatton, defending, said: “Many charges of this nature carry a far larger number of images than Mr Walker falls to be sentenced for.

“The reasons he has given for committing these offences are somewhat flawed in his thinking, and he would maintain the motivation behind it was not sexual.”

But that was rejected by Recorder Christopher Donnellan QC, who said: “If he had wished to draw attention to himself, he could have walked into a shop and stolen a bar of chocolate.”

Recorder Donnellan told Walker: “You downloaded and stored for a period of time on your computer, before they were deleted, 27 category A images of the most horrendous type, the actual abuse by adults of real children aged between naught and two.

“You know, or if you don’t know you need to understand, people who download and view images contribute to the perpetration of the abuse you see taking place.”