An IT consultant who has to sign the Official Secrets’ Act because of the work he does for the government now has to register as a sex offender for the next five years.

Daniel Robinson, 52, was found to have hundreds of child sex abuse images and movies when the police seized computers from his home in Westminster Court, St Albans.

There were 103 images and five movies at Category A - the most serious level - 129 images and two movies were at Level B and 853 images were at Level C.

The Category A images included shocking photos involving infants, St Albans Crown Court heard on Friday.

Prosecutor Sally Mealing-McLeod said police went to Robinson’s then address in Brooklands Court, St Albans, on November 28, 2013, but he was not there. They then visited his estranged wife, who told them he was living with a new partner.

He later called the police and asked why they wanted to see him. When he was interviewed about what the police had found, he said his computers had been hacked.

But when he came to court, Robinson pleaded guilty to five counts of downloading and possessing images of child abuse and extreme pornography. He had no previous convictions.

Ronald Jaffa, defending, said Robinson worked as a freelance consultant and had signed the Officlal Secrets Act because of his work for government departments.

He said: “He writes IT security specifications for IT companies and large government departments.”

Since his arrest he had been seeking help from the Tavistock and Portman clinic, a specialist mental health trust based in north London.

Judge Andrew Bright QC, who was shown a sample of the images by a police officer before the case was heard, said: “These are amongst the most disgusting photographs I have seen.”

He said viewing the images had become an obsession for Robinson and that it needed to be addressed.

He passed a six month sentence suspended for 18 months, with 18 months’ supervision. Robinson must also pay £500 prosecution costs, register as a sex offender and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for five years.