POLICE raided an elderly man’s home after receiving a tip-off about indecent images on his PC from staff at Currys, a court has heard.

David Wiltcher appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court accused of four counts of possessing indecent images of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

No pleas were entered.

Kristal Penrose, prosecuting, said police in Yorkshire were first made aware of what were believed to be illegal material on Wiltcher’s computer.

She said: “On March 14 last year South Yorkshire Police received information from Know How IT - a company linked to Currys.

“They said they had found what they believed to be indecent images on a customer’s computer.

“They confirmed the details were that of Mr Wiltcher.

“Shortly afterwards Essex Police arrived at his address, in East Street, Colchester, and seized a number of devices which contained 9,403 indecent images across all three categories.

“He told police he had suffered mental health problems and tinitus which caused a ringing in his ears.

“He said a doctor had told him to find a hobby or interest to distract him from the ringing and one of the things he found interesting was using the internet and being on the computer.

“He said he had deliberately tried infect his computer with viruses in order to allow him to unblock and solve the problems and that is how the images had appeared there.”

The raid occurred when Wiltcher, 78, was living in East Street, Colchester, but has since moved to Cherry Street in Stratford upon Avon.

Magistrates declined jurisdiction of the case, saying it was too serious for them to deal with.

Wiltcher will next appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday, July 10 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.

He is expected to dispute the charges.

Wiltcher was released on unconditional bail until the next hearing.