A paedophile who set up a sick ‘masturbation station’ in his bedroom opposite a school where he spied on children has been jailed.
Stephen Conroy, 53, also filmed youngsters on their way to school from his garden and plastered the walls of his home with a ‘hoard’ of depraved child pornography.
A court heard he used his home in Corby, Northants., to ogle children attending St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School.
When police raided his home in February this year following a tip-off they found thousands of pornographic DVDs as well as 3,028 indecent pictures of children.
He had 25 images of “extreme pornography” and was found to possess more than 30 of the most serious Level 5 child pornography involving children as young as one.
Officers also found children’s underwear and a schoolgirl’s outfit in the property.
Conroy admitted 13 counts of possessing and making indecent images of children and was jailed for 14 months at Northampton Crown Court on Monday.
He was handed a sexual offences prevention order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.
Caging him, Judge Lynn Tayton QC told Conroy: “It is quite clear that you have been recording young girls from your garden using a camcorder.
“It also appears, looking at the items in your bedroom, that you are a hoarder.
“But it is also clear that you have had an obsessive interest in sexual materials and that you have set up a masturbation machine (sic) in your bedroom, near the window.”
Conroy was also sentenced to one month in prison, to run concurrently, for possessing four cannabis plants.
At an earlier hearing the court heard Conroy had set up a “masturbation station” from his bedroom.
Prosecutor Alex Bull said: “The defendant’s house was in close proximity to a school which can be seen from an upstairs window and the sound of children can be heard from the house.
“Children also regularly walk past the address to get to school.
“There was a home-made masturbation device by a window which had a view of the street.
“In regards to the masturbation station, he admitted that is what he used it for.”
When he was interviewed by police, Conroy said he had not realised he was doing anything illegal.
He also told officers he had started looking at child abuse images in 2006 and later searched for “school uniform porn”.
Mark Nicholls, defending, told the court Conroy cared full-time for his disabled mother.
He said: “He was made redundant as a warehouse man and has been his mother’s unofficial carer for two years.
“He is a hoarder, as is evident from the paperwork and photographs found.
“He is ashamed of what he has done and the shame he has brought on his family and friends and he has expressed his remorse and regret.
“He accepts that he needs help.”
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Stacey Hill, of Northamptonshire Police, said: “The sentencing of Stephen Conroy demonstrates our commitment to track down and stop anybody who has a sexual interest in children and looks at indecent images of them.
“Conroy is where he should be, behind bars.
“His offending was aggravated by the systematic collation and hoarding of thousands of indecent images.
“His proximity to a local school cannot be ignored, though we are satisfied that no local children have been approached by him.”