A school teacher from Devon who downloaded more than 3,500 child pornography images from the internet has been jailed for eight months.
The images were found in a "well-organised" folder on a CD-Rom
George Davies, 37, from Exeter, pleaded guilty to two charges of inciting distribution of indecent images of children and nine specimen charges of possessing indecent pictures.
Exeter Crown Court heard how police discovered the indecent pictures when they raided his home and seized his computer.
In addition to the prison term, Davies was ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders' Register for seven years.
Davies was caught in an FBI investigation into the Landslide Productions child porn business in America.
A list of clients was seized and the British customer list was sent to the National Crime Squad, who in turn provided a local list to Devon and Cornwall Police.
Prosecutor David Evans said the images were found in a well-organised folder on one of the CD-Roms and they had been downloaded from two websites.
Davies told officers that he had been abused as a child and felt he had to view the images to prove to himself that he was not alone in being abused.
He said he thought it might help him to see the pictures.
Stephen Nunn, defending, said Davies was not trying to use his background to excuse his behaviour but simply as an explanation as to what he had done.
Mr Nunn said Davies had lost his accommodation because of the offences and would suffer long-term consequences due to his convictions.
Passing the eight month prison sentence, Judge Jeremy Griggs told Davies: "The courts have a duty to protect young children and those who access the internet to obtain such images are furthering the abuse of youngsters."
Davies' computer system was forfeited and the images seized are to be destroyed.