A PAEDOPHILE caught with an image of a baby being raped told detectives he was looking at child abuse videos because he was “depressed” after dropping out of university.

William Taylor, 23, was trawling the darkest depths of the internet and started falling “deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole”.

Police found 100 indecent videos and pictures on his computer and Samsung mobile phone when they raided the defendant’s home in Blaenau Gwent.

Thomas Stanway, prosecuting, said the victims were aged from recently born infants up to children of 14.

One of the images depicted a three-month-old baby.

Taylor was interviewed after he was taken into custody following his arrest last December.

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Mr Stanway told Cardiff Crown Court: “He said he had dropped out of university. He said he was feeling depressed and found himself looking at dark things online.

“Every link took him deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.

“The defendant said it wasn’t just indecent images.

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“There were dark jokes and other dark themed topics.

“He denied receiving sexual gratification from the indecent images and said they disgusted him.”

Taylor, of Edmunds Close, Blaina, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent photographs of children.

There were 10 category A images, the most serious kind, six at category B and 84 at category C.

The defendant had no previous convictions.

Jeffrey Jones, representing Taylor, said: “He wishes to return to his university.

“The defendant is an A* student who had three As at A-level.”

His barrister added how Taylor was a talented musician and an “exceptional mathematician”.

Mr Jones said: “The defendant is ashamed and embarrassed.”

The court heard Taylor had dropped out of his studies in mechanical and nuclear engineering at a university in London and had had an “addiction to cocaine”.

Judge Richard Williams sentenced him to a three-year community order.

The defendant must undergo 35 sessions of a sex offender programme and complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was ordered to pay £420 towards prosecution costs, a £250 fine and a victim surcharge.

Taylor must register as a sex offender for five years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order until 2026.