A man with hundreds of indecent images denied having a “sexual interest in children”.

Lucifer-Stuart Poseidon George-Van Helsing collected 416 photographs over a three-year period.

The 35-year-old was caught red-handed by police after concerns were raised through Facebook, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Prosecuting, Edward Culver said two mobile phones and a Dell tower unit were used by the defendant to store the images.

The disturbing material included children being raped.

Lucifer Van Hesling Lucifer Van Hesling (Image: Newsquest) “The defendant accepted an interest in pornography but denied an interest in children or paedophilic material in his police interview”, Mr Culver said.

However, search terms including ‘pre-pubescent girls’ and ‘incest’ were recovered from his devices, along with a history of time spent on two websites containing indecent images and material.

Mr Culver added: “These offences occurred across a number of months and a number of devices.

“His mother went to use his phone and that is when some of the material was discovered.

“The offending could escalate and there is a risk.”

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The court heard how Van Helsing downloaded the images and did not distribute them.

Van Hesling, of Thornhill Park Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to a charge of making 169 category C indecent images of a child between May 23, 2021, and March 16, 2024.

He also admitted making 146 category B images and 101 category A images, during the same time period.

Mitigating, Mark Florida-James asked judge Nicholas Rowland if there was anything he wanted addressed, to which the answer was no.

Judge Rowland said: “Anybody who downloads this sort of material has a sexual interest in children and it is only because of this interest of people like you that children around the world are being abused.

“I can suspend the sentence in this case because you have no previous convictions.

“But if you come back here in the next two years you will not be so fortunate.”

He was given a nine-month sentence suspended for two years and must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.