A paedophile who shared "horrific" child abuse images and extreme porn tried to blame a primary-school-aged child for his sickening crimes.
Gary Vincent Harrison repeated the claim from his arrest at an address in Spennymoor in 2021 until his trial in June.
But a Durham Crown Court jury rejected his explanation and convicted him of three counts of making indecent images of children, two of distributing them, possessing prohibited images of children and possessing extreme pornography.
The case involved 76 images and videos, including 22 in the most serious category, as well as two prohibited images and one extreme pornography image.
Harrison, 41, more recently of Neale Street, Ferryhill, returned to court for sentencing on Monday (October 5).
Gary Harrison jailed for 21 months for possession of indecent and prohibited images of children after being found guilty at trial, in June
Judge Nathan Adams said Harrison appeared to have shared the images with other members of an illicit WhatsApp group.
He said Harrison blamed a primary-school pupil for downloading the material throughout the police investigation and up to and including his trial.
“That was quite clearly not the case and the jury was clearly certain of your responsibility.”
Referring to the images, the Judge told Harrison: “These were real children being subject to horrific abuse to be viewed by you for your own perverse pleasure.
“The fact you tried to blame it on a child is an aggravating factor.
“And, I see that you continue to deny any blame.
“I choose not to suspend the sentence I’m passing.
“These were serious matters and due to your continued strong denials it means the Probation Service think there’s little they can do to deal with you.
"They consider you pose a high risk in future.”
Judge Adams jailed Harrison for 21 months and said a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was “necessary” to enable the police to monitor his future internet and electronic-device use.
The order will last for ten years, and Harrison must also remain on the sex offenders’ register for the same period.
Judge Adams ordered the deprivation of all devices seized from Harrison which contain the offending images.
His details will also be passed to the barring service, preventing him from working with children or vulnerable adults.