A TEENAGER who claimed he accidentally downloaded indecent images of children while searching for adult porn on his computer has avoided going to jail.

Peter Wilson said the images were among adult material he accessed through the internet file sharing service Limewire, a judge at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard.

The 18-year-old, of Moorland Road, Burslem, admitted possessing 31 level one images; five level three images; five level four images and two level five images – the most serious level.

He also admitted possessing one moving image at level three.

The images only came to light when Wilson sold his computer and the material was discovered.

David Bennett, prosecuting, said: "He didn't know he was downloading child porn to his computer, nor did he intend to.

"He was using the Limewire site to download music, movies and adult porn, but occasionally there would be images of child porn among the items he downloaded.

"He was aware of the images, which he deleted from his computer, but he continued to use the site which he now knows he shouldn't have done."

On December 14, 2009 Wilson sold his computer for £10 and told the buyer he had deleted all of his files.

But when the person who bought the computer began to set it up, he found a number of indecent images of young children.

Police were informed and the computer was seized by officers, who discovered a total of 199 still images, the majority of which were recovered from deleted files.

Wilson was yesterday sentenced to a supervised 12-month community order and ordered to attend a thinking skills programme, which aims to stop people from re-offending.