A MAN claimed he couldn’t remember downloading nearly 200 child abuse videos and pictures, and told police he suffered from blackouts after mixing medication and alcohol.

Alan Howarth’s Newport home was raided in the summer of 2019 after officers received a tip-off, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

They found 14 category A images - the most serious kind - five at category B and 179 at category C on his computer.

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Eugene Egan, prosecuting, said Howarth’s case was “unusual” because all the images had been downloaded over a two-and-half hour period during the early hours of the morning.

He added: “When the defendant was interviewed he told officers, ‘I suffer from blackouts as a result of taking a combination of medication and alcohol’ and he added he used to wake up with no memory of the night before from time to time.”

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Howarth had initially denied possession of indecent images of children but pleaded guilty on the day of his trial.

He had one previous conviction for drink driving from 2020.

Joshua Scouller, representing 51-year-old Howarth, told the court: “This has had a heavy toll on him.”

His barrister said the matter had been hanging over his client’s head for more than three years and how the defendant’s wife had left him.

The defendant had also spent time during that period in a mental institution.

Mr Scouller added how Howarth was “physically sick outside the police station” after being arrested.

He was, his lawyer said, a man capable of being rehabilitated.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins told the defendant: “You and others like you must realise that this is not a victimless crime.

“Each of those images shows a child being abused in the most cruel and violent way and it is because people like you download such images and therefore keep the demand for such material going that these images are continuously being made and regrettably put on places like the internet.

“That having been said, I am quite satisfied that you are remorseful, indeed ashamed of what you did – you should be.”

Howarth, formerly of Newport, now of Bath Road, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, was sentenced to a two-year community order.

He must carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

The defendant must register as a sex offender for five years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

Howarth will also have to pay £500 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge.