Martyn Le Page, 60, entered guilty pleas to 11 charges that involved a total of 966 images across three devices.
The first offending was in 2015. He also asked the court to take two other matters into consideration when sentencing.
Indecent images of children are graded on a C to A ascending scale in terms of their seriousness and the numbers in this case were 780, 106 and 80 respectively.
Prosecuting Advocate Phoebe Cobb told the Royal Court how police officers had executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home on the morning of 14 January.
He was arrested along with another family member.
He immediately admitted that it was nothing to do with the other person and that the blame was all his.
‘I’ve got to be honest. it drives me mad,’ he said.
‘I’m not a paedophile. I am a man who looks at porn and you just do these things.’
All of the images, featuring girls between the ages of four and 12, were derived from internet sources and not sent to him by any individual.
He was candid in interview, saying that he preferred teenage over-18s porn but when these images had popped up, his curiosity had taken over.
He said the number of images recovered had shocked him and made him feel sick. He had no previous convictions.
Defending, Advocate Paul Lockwood said his client had been drawn in to the world of indecent images which had fed an appetite to get more.
He welcomed the opportunity to have long-term supervision going ahead and did not oppose the prosecution application for forfeiture and destruction of the three devices he used.
He had admitted his guilt from the outset and had been frank and open with the Probation Service.
Lt-Bailiff Graeme McKerrell said there were aggravating factors in the case – the quantity of images involved, the time span of the offending, and the ages of the children.
The number of category A images was not the highest but still significant.
‘But whether there are eight, 80, 800 or 8,000, these were images of the most disturbing kind which give you little in terms of mitigation,’ he said.
The court accepted that no local children had been involved and that the defendant had not taken any of the images himself.
‘But the fact is that it is people like you who create demand for these sorts of images and therefore cause children to be harmed, wherever they might be.’
Le Page was jailed for two years and three months for the category A image offences. The other sentences were lesser and all were concurrent.
He will be made subject to an extended sentence licence for three years on his release from prison and notification requirements for five years.
Forfeiture and destruction of the devices was ordered.