AN “isolated” young man who stored indecent images of children on an online storage account said he first accessed the pictures through pop-ups from pornography websites.

Kai Schadek, 22, was found to have stashed prohibited “cartoon” images of children on an iPhone, computer and an online storage account.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard police searched Schadek’s home, in Colchester, seizing the devices.

Schadek, of Villa Road, Stanway, admitted charges of possessing prohibited images, possessing an extreme image, and making indecent photographs of children.

The charges relate to 32 prohibited images found on an iPhone, one from a computer and 42 from a Google storage account.

Paul Baker, mitigating, said his client had made full admissions from the start of the investigation and described his client as an “isolated” young man who had been bullied at school.

“Indeed, you can see from the pre sentence report, he spends a lot of time by himself, at home, and seems to live a lot of his life through the internet,” he said.

“He started to access adult pornography, and from these sites various pop-ups he could access - which he started to do.

“Unfortunately some of these pop-ups led to child images. The majority of the images he was found in possession of were cartoon images.”

Mr Baker said Schadek had learning difficulties and the probation service had identified a specialist rehabilitation programme to suit his needs.

“He says at first he was shocked at what he had seen, but unfortunately it triggered an interest,” he said.

Magistrates ordered Schadek to complete a two-year community order and a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work.