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A smirking padeophile's mum defended her son saying he 'wasn't the first and won't be the last' after he was caught downloading child abuse images.

Dad-of-one Damien Renshaw walked from court a free man despite downloading sick videos of children and babies being sexually abused.

Renshaw was supported by his parents and sister as he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing today.

He had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of creating (downloading) hundreds of child sex abuse images - some of which were of children as young as three months old.

When approached by the Liverpool Echo outside court, surrounded by his family, Renshaw, 34, smirked as he responded with ‘no’ answers questions.

(Image: Liverpool Echo WS) (Image: Liverpool Echo WS)

His mother, Kate Renshaw, declined to repeat her character reference but simply said about her disgraced son: “He won’t be the first and he won’t be the last.”

Legal representatives for the defendant claimed the breakdown of his marriage, combined with his alcohol addiction, had led him to “seek solace in the internet” and said that, after moving out of the marital home and into a flat alone, his alcohol addiction had spiralled.

The court heard how the NHS IT worker, who worked at hospitals across Wirral, had downloaded a total of 235 child sex abuse images, including 12 videos and stored them on his tablet and USB drive.

(Image: Liverpool Echo WS)

(Image: Liverpool Echo WS)

Sixty two of the images - including eight videos - were the most serious category A images and featured toddlers between six and 12 months old.

Ninety seven of the images - including six videos - were category B and featured children as young as three and six months old.

Seventy six of the images were category C, some of which featured a young girl between the ages of two and three.

When initially interviewed by police on October 4, 2017 Renshaw gave a ‘no comment’ interview to police, however, when he was re-arrested on January 25 he admitted his crimes.

(Image: Liverpool Echo WS)

(Image: Liverpool Echo WS)

Mr Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, revealed how Renshaw had started to use online chatrooms when drunk and had ‘stumbled’ into the child sex abuse images.

He said: “He had split up with his wife and moved out of the family home.

“It [drinking] worsened when he moved into a flat on his own. Sometimes he needed a lunchtime drink just to get him through the day.

“He was lonely and would turn to the internet. He began to use chat rooms and was, in his own words ‘stumbling’ into images of children.”

(Image: Liverpool Echo WS)

Mr Paul Blasbery, defending, told the court how Renshaw had the support of his family, who attended court, and handed Judge Flewitt QC a written character notice from his mum Kate.

He also said that he’d referred himself to ‘talking therapy’ and had sought the help of his GP for his alcoholism.

Sentencing, Judge Flewitt QC spoke of the “shocking” age of the victims in the pictures and videos.

He said: “The striking part of this case is the extremely young age of many of the children. Some of them are so young their ages are counted in months - not even years.

“As you recognise, these are real children. They are not make believe images.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

“Each of those children is a real child somewhere in the world that has been sexually abused so that people like you can get whatever gratification you get from those images.”

Renshaw walked free from court but was subject to a community order of three years.

Noting that Renshaw presented ‘a risk to the public from sexual harm’ he was ordered to attend a rehabilitation activity for thirty days, join an accredited sex offender treatment program and to undergo 120 hours of unpaid community service.

He will be the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years and his tablet computer and USB storage drive will be destroyed.