Some of the images in Ralph Harrington’s secret store showed children aged four or five, said Rob Galley, prosecuting.
It was the second time the 58-year-old academic who specialises in railway research had been caught with sexual images of children – and the second time he was allowed to keep his freedom.
“It is obvious to anyone you do very much have an entrenched sexual interest in children,” Recorder Thomas Moran told Harrington.
In 2003, Harrington told York magistrates he was “ashamed and disgusted” by his secret life downloading indecent images of youngsters.
They gave him a three-year community order for 17 charges involving the illegal images. Magistrates heard that he had 16,000 images featuring children aged 10 to 12 performing indecent acts, downloaded between November 2000 and November 2002.
Mr Galley told York Crown Court police raided Harrington’s home in 2021 and found he had 2,734 images of the most serious category of sexual videos and photographs of children, 3,829 of the next category and 355,942 of the lowest category, downloaded between 2013 and 2021.
They included 189 videos of the worst category of sexual images and some of the children involved were aged four or five.
Harrington, of Farndale Road, off Fulford Road, York, pleaded guilty to three offences of having indecent images of children.
The judge said Harrington had denied to a probation officer that he had a sexual interest in children.
The 58-year-old did present a risk to the public and offences like his encouraged the production of more sexual images involving children, the judge said.
The way to reduce that was to ensure Harrington got treatment, he added.
Harrington was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years on condition Harrington does a rehabilitation programme and 35 days’ rehabilitative activities. He will be on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of the internet and enabling police to monitor him, both for 10 years.
His solicitor advocate Kevin Blount said: “There is little I can say about the offending.”
Harrington hadn’t come to terms with his sexual interest in children but having reflected on what he told the probation officer he had told his solicitor he “now accepts that is something he needs intervention with,” said the solicitor.
Harrington had turned to the illegal images when he had mental health problems.
“There is an element of habit forming,” said Mr Blount. “He is disgusted with himself and what he has done.”
Harrington was part of the University of York until his first conviction. He left the university in 2003 and is now self-employed.
