A HEREFORD man caught with child pornography and a picture of a sex act being performed on a dog has been sentenced.

Andrew Simpson entered guilty pleas to four charges at an earlier hearing before Hereford magistrates court.

The court heard he had made 158 category A indecent photographs of children, 70 category B indecent images of children, and 75 category C indecent images of children in Hereford between September 16 and 28.

He had also been in possession of an extreme pornographic image portraying a person performing a sex act with a dog between the same dates.

At his plea hearing, prosecutor Elizabeth Blacklock said Simpson, who has no previous convictions, had been using a Google account to upload the images.

An investigation linked the account to the 40-year-old, and a warrant was issued for police to search his address, with a mobile phone and a computer seized.

The devices contained a large number of images, Miss Blacklock said, recommending at the plea hearing that Simpson should be sentenced at the crown court.

Edmund Middleton, for Simpson, said he did not have an issue with the case being sent to the crown court as the nature of the offences put it at the top end of the magistrates' sentencing powers.

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Simpson, of Shakespeare Road, Hereford, appeared before Worcester Crown Court for sentencing on July 15, where he was handed a three-year community order with 180 hours of unpaid work and a 45-day rehabilitation requirement, and a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

The judge also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of Simpson's laptop, and he must pay a £95 victim surcharge and £340 costs.