A PERVERT caught in an international sting by Interpol after buying child abuse films from a Canadian film company claimed to have an interest in 'incest, not children', a court heard.

Kevin Politt, aged 38, of Bagnall Close, Great Sankey, was collared after Azov Films, which distributed pictures and films of young children having sex, was probed by authorities in Canada.

A drawn out investigation that started in 2005 was 'resurrected' in 2010, with Interpol investigating customer lists.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Thursday how Politt had ordered a film called 'Love, Strange Love' which featured an underage girl having sex.

After returning from work to find police searching his house, the defendant directed officers to where the film was kept.

He initially claimed he ordered it as a 'coming of age film', and not as illegal pornography.

Politt 'denied any sexual interest in children', the court heard, although 184 indecent images of children were found on a hard drive seized by police.

However, the hard drive was no longer in use and the images could not be viewed unless with expert technology.

The defendant told police he was 'fascinated by incest' and he would put search terms into his computer 'connected to that topic'.

Politt later admitted to using search terms like 'school girl', 'pre-teen', 'little girl', 'young son and mum', '10-year-old boy' and 'two sisters'.

The court heard nine of the images were of the most serious kind.

Politt, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to nine counts of making indecent images and one count of possessing indecent images.

John Banasko, defending, said Politt had stopped accessing child pornography several years ago and was attempting to alter his behaviour through counselling.

"The defendant is showing genuine remorse," said Mr Banasko.

"During the interview they showed him some of the images and he broke down and was disgusted by what he saw."

Judge Raj Shetty said he was able to spare Politt jail as the images were downloaded between 2006 and 2007 and he could be rehabilitated instead.

He added: "I'm dealing with photos of real children who had really been abused.

"Depraved acts committed on these children is something I can't ignore.

"You have managed your own affairs to make sure you can't use a computer for a nefarious purpose."

Politt was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for two years, a sex offenders treatment programme and 200 hours unpaid work.