A loner who admitted possessing child sex images has avoided being jailed.

Matthew Chapman, of Cambridge Road, Harrow, was ordered by Harrow Crown Court to never use the internet again in 2008 after being jailed for 18 months for possessing images and films of children as young as three years old.

Chapman breached the order between December 1, 2010 and August 26, 2012, and appeared in court on Friday last week after admitting having 621 indecent images and films of children.

Prosecuting, Justin Bearman told the court that members of Harrow Police’s Jigsaw Unit were alerted after a woman Chapman went to school with made a complaint that she had been harassed by him on social media.

Officers seized Chapman’s Dell Notebook, HP Laptop and camcorder and found the images which included a film of a six-year-old child.

The 43-year-old, who is deaf and suffers from dyspraxia, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to possessing indecent images of children and to breaching the order not access the internet.

The court heard that in 2002 he had also received a community order for making an indecent image.

Judge Jeremy Dodd, addressing Chapman who wept in the dock, said: “Perhaps as a result of a degree of social isolation you have developed a distorted view of sexual behaviour, and until now that has gone not properly addressed.

“These offences to which you have pleaded guilty are so serious that a custodial sentence is merited but in my view the previous sentences have not dealt with your problems.”

Dodd sentenced Chapman to a total of 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, as he felt that his previous imprisonment had not addressed his underlying problems. The judge praised the work of medical, policing and probation team in their dealing with Chapman.

Chapman is prohibited for the next 10 years from using any device capable of accessing the internet unless it has the capability of retaining the history of internet usage. He is also to make devices available for inspection by a police officer and is forbidden from deleting history from his computer.

He is not allowed to have any contact with a female of under 16 years unless it is in the course of everyday life, or the supervision of a parent or carer who is aware of his conviction.

The seized computers are to be destroyed and Chapman must be supervised for 18 months.