Leeds school music teacher had 2,000 indecent images

Donal Donnelly was working as a freelance music teacher at a school in Leeds

A music teacher caught with more than 2,000 indecent images of children as young as six has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Donal Donnelly was under investigation for a separate offence when the images were discovered.

The 58-year-old, of Rossefield Road, Bradford, was sentenced at York Crown Court after he admitted three charges of downloading indecent images.

He was hand an eight-month jail term, suspended for 12 months.

North Yorkshire Police said the children in the images, which were found on devices belonging to Donnelly, were "primary school-aged".

The force made it clear there was no evidence to suggest the offences involved children taught by Donnelly

Several of the images were classed as category A and B while the rest were category C - the lower of the three categories, police said.

As well as the suspended jail term, Donnelly was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work. He was made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

He was also ordered to take part in a rehabilitation course and told to pay costs of £425.

Speaking after the hearing, Det Con Nicky Wareham said: "This was a very concerning case, even more so considering Donnelly's job which could mean regular, unsupervised access to dozens of children.

"While I would stress that the offences relate to images that were already in circulation, that doesn't in any way detract from the gravity of this offence.

"Indecent images perpetuate child abuse and some of the photographs we encountered during the investigation were particularly disturbing."