A man who used his wife's credit card to download child porn has been jailed for nine months.

David Alan Collins, pictured, of Thornhill Street, Calverley, admitted 20 charges of possessing indecent photographs of children.

At Leeds Crown Court yesterday Judge Roderick Adams said Collins was guilty of a serious offence which encouraged the production of child pornography and the abuse of children.

He jailed Collins for nine months for each charge to run concurrently.

Bespectacled Collins, who was jailed in 1995 for an indecent assault on a young girl, was dressed in a grey suit and yellow tie.

He stood expressionless as the court heard how he had lost his job as a result of his interest in child porn becoming public knowledge.

Collins downloads images of naked girls and viewed child porn sites.

As he passed sentence, Judge Adams said: "I don't need to emphasise the seriousness of the offence. They might seem to some not very serious, being a private matter, but anyone who obtains these images is encouraging the production of them and in turn the abuse of children." He said the father-of-two recognised he had a problem and was seeking help.

Prosecutor Jonathan Gibson outlined how police raided Collins' home in December last year and seized computer equipment. Video clips and photographs were found, the majority of images were at level three although there were some at level four. There were none at level five, which is classified as the worst kind of image.

During a police interview on December 23, Collins admitted he had used his wife's credit card to download images from an American site in 1999.

In mitigation his barrister Jeremy Hill-Baker said Collins recognised he had a problem and was seeking help.

He said: "The worst examples are two video images at level four. The rest are below that."

Mr Hill-Baker said Collins had not distributed any of the child porn nor taken any pictures himself.

His wife submitted a letter in support of her husband, vowing to stand by him.

"It gives the court confidence to know that when he is released that there will be a support network at home to supervise him," added Mr Hill-Baker.