A TEENAGER possessed a sick collection of more than 1,000 indecent images of children.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had built up a disturbing gallery which contained hundreds of images of the worst kind.

Police officers also found three images and five videos of extreme pornography involving a dog.

The teen, from Colchester, must now inform police every time he wants to use a device capable of accessing the internet as part of a series of punishments imposed on him by Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court.

At Suffolk Youth Court in February, the 17-year-old was convicted of three counts of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child on or before March 2, 2021.

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It came after police officers found 143 Category A images and 236 Category A moving images of a child.

Offences in this most serious category relate to images involving penetrative sexual activity and/or sadism.

Furthermore, he was found to have 156 Category B images, 59 Category B moving images, 289 Category C images and 68 Category C moving images – all featuring a child.

On or before the same date, he was also in possession of extreme pornographic images – five images and three moving images – which portrayed a person performing sexual intercourse with a dog.

Magistrates stated the content showed the act in an “explicit and realistic” way and was “grossly offensive, disgusting and of an obscene character”.

The defendant was found to have distributed indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child and was convicted of three counts of the offence.

It came during a series of offences between February 2 and March 3 of last year where he was found to have distributed five Category A images and three moving images, four Category B images, nine Category C images and one moving image.

The 17-year-old was also convicted for possession of a prohibited image of a child, of which he had 59 banned images and two moving images.

The offender has been referred to the Colchester youth offender panel for the next year and has been made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order lasting five years among a series of punishments.