THE finance director of the former Bradford Cathedral Centre has escaped a prison sentence for the second time after he was caught downloading "disgusting" child porn images and sharing them with others.

On the day he was charged in June last year Brian Charlton, 70, suffered severe physical and mental injuries after he fell from a Bradford car park and yesterday he arrived at the city's crown court in a wheelchair.

Back in September 2008, Charlton was given a 20-week suspended jail sentence for possessing indecent images of youngsters and the court heard on that occasion that three days before his trial was due to start he had been badly injured when he fell into Chellow Dene quarry.

Charlton, of Leyside Drive, Allerton, Bradford, admitted charges of distributing indecent images of children, possessing indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornography after police acting on information executed a search at his home in February last year.

Judge Jonathan Rose heard that file-sharing software had been found on Charlton's computer equipment and subsequent analysis of a laptop and an external hard drive revealed 200 indecent images and almost 150 videos.

The court heard yesterday that the some of the children in the images were as young as three years old.

Barrister Gerald Hendron, for Charlton, conceded that the latest offending was extremely serious, but he highlighted the real difficulties that would be created if his client was sent into a prison environment.

He said Charlton was effectively "wheelchair-bound" and required full-time care at home from his wife.

Mr Hendron said his client had been in hospital for a significant period of time after his fall from the car park and the court was now presented with someone who was very different, both physically and mentally, from the man who committed the offences.

"He has effectively given himself a life sentence by his actions on the day of charge," suggested Mr Hendron.

The court heard that Charlton now had no internet access at his home and he was subject to regular monitoring visits.

Judge Rose told Charlton that the public deplored men like him who watched children being sexually abused.

He said Charlton had not given one thought for the children involved and his previous suspended sentence, and a caution in 2003, had not made one jot of difference to his predilection for paedophilic imagery.

"Even in your advanced years you still on a daily basis chose to view images of small children being sexually abused," the judge told Charlton.

"The public would say send this man to prison however old he is, however infirm he is because this man cannot be rehabilitated ...cannot be cured.

"He is a paedophile and he will remain that way until he passes away.

"If I were to send you immediately to prison, as you so richly deserve, the public would applaud and say justice had finally been done."

The judge said he shared the public's view that punishment was now the only option because Charlton could not be cured or changed, but he said he had to look at the wider picture.

Judge Rose concluded that in the exceptional circumstances of the case it was not necessary to place the burden for Charlton's care on the prison service.

Charlton was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years, and he will also have to abide by an electronically-monitored six-month home curfew between 7pm and 7am.

"One breach is all it will take and I will have no more mercy for you," the judge told him.

"You are fortunate that I've found it possible not to send you to prison today, but it will not happen again."

Charlton will have to register as a sex offender for life with the police and he will also be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Charlton worked at Bradford Cathedral Centre until the mid 2000s.

The centre was renamed Forster Community College in 2011.