A Norwich man who was found with indecent images of young girls aged about 13 on his mobile phone has been placed on the sex offenders' register for five years and ordered to do 160 hours unpaid work.

Stephen Collins, 47, was also made subject to a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years and made to pay �400 towards prosecution costs.

Norwich Crown Court heard that the 17 images were found on his phone after police spoke to him about an unrelated matter and when they checked his mobile, officers discovered the indecent images.

In interview, he told police that the images had been downloaded with a file of other photos and he had meant to delete them, but forgot.

His computer at home was also checked but it was found that he had not downloaded any images using his computer.

Collins, of Maidstone Road, in the city centre, admitted making and possessing the indecent images.

Sentencing him, Recorder Guy Ayers said he deserved credit for his plea but said: 'You made the conscious decision to keep these images. You could have deleted them at any time. I don't believe it was forgetfulness.'

He added: 'In my view there was no other interest for keeping these, other than you had an interest in these images.'

Jonathan Goodman, for Collins, said his home computers showed that he had not used them to download or search for any indecent images of children.

'He did not seek out any images.' He said that Collins said he got no sexual pleasure from viewing the images.

'He is ashamed he did not immediately delete these images .'

He said that Collins had forgot to delete the images.