A CHILD porn pervert was caught trying to print off a picture of naked boys on a public computer at the Hive library in Worcester, a court heard.

Michael Anderson was in the middle of printing out the picture when the printer overheated and jammed, Talbir Singh prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court.

The 44-year-old of The Hopmarket, Worcester, contacted a woman member of staff to complain and as she pulled the image from the computer, he snatched it from her hands, Mr Singh said. He asked if he could delete the items he had selected to print from the computer he was using in the library and was told it was not possible.

"He then asked for his money back for the failed printing," Mr Singh said. "He was told it would be credited to his account."

The staff member contacted an IT team who found he had printed two other pictures of naked boys and police were called.

They searched his flat and he was found to have a total of more than 9,000 indecent images of boys on a laptop and a memory stick.

He pleaded guilty to eleven charges of downloading the images between April 3 and May 10 2013. More than 9,000 of the total of 9,412 images were the least serious level with 66 at the most serious Mr Singh said police also found newspaper cuttings at the flat relating to child abuse and murderers who had killed children.

He was given a six year jail sentence in 1997 for inciting boys to commit a serious sexual offence and had lawfully changed to his present name in 1998, Mr Singh said.

Harpreet Sandhu defending said Anderson confessed straight away to police and directed them to the images. He said a short prison sentence would not help to protect the public or rehabilitate Anderson, who had kept out of trouble in the 18 months since the incident In the Hive at midday on April 15 last year.

Recorder Denis Desmond gave Anderson a 12- month sentence suspended for two years with supervision and a requirement to undertake a community sex offenders work programme. He said printing out the picture in the Hive had run the risk of them being seen by others who could have been corrupted by it.

But he had decided that an immediate prison sentence lasting a few months would not proved any opportunity for Anderson to be rehabilitated.

He is already on the sex offenders register indefinitely and is also subject to a sexual offences prevention order restricting his use of computers.

Your Worcester News requested a photograph of Anderson from West Mercia Police but we were refused. We argued that it was in the public interest to know what Anderson looked like as his offence took place in a public place frequented by families and children.

However, a West Mercia Police spokesperson said they would not be releasing this image because of their 'corporate policy'. They would have released the image had he been given a custodial rather than suspended prison sentence.

In relation to the offence itself a spokesperson from West Mercia Police said: "Although Anderson did not directly harm any children, this is not a victimless crime. Somewhere in the world children were photographed and exploited for the gratification of Anderson and others like him.

This case demonstrates that people accessing indecent images of children anywhere leave a digital footprint which can be followed right to their front door, and we hope this case will prove a deterrent to others."