A building contractor from Cosheston downloaded a guide to child abuse as well as more than 31,000 indecent images.

Andrew Durrant, aged 63, had been reading up on how to meet children and groom them for sexual abuse.

Durrant, of Oakleigh, was jailed for 18 months today (Tuesday) after he admitted child sex offences.

Dean Pulling, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court the "paedophile's handbook" had been found by police examining his computers for child pornography.

The guide featured a section headed "the hunting season" and urged readers to "start stalking."

Mr Pulling said it was so rare for the police to find the guide that the only comparable case was that of Jon Venables, one of the killers of Liverpool toddler James Bulger.

Judge Paul Thomas said "obscene" did not even begin to describe the guide.

Durrant, a father of four, admitted possessing the guide, which was an offence, and 31,000 indecent images and videos featuring children as young as two.

He also admitted possessing extreme pornographic images featuring adults having sex with animals.

Mr Pulling said the material was discovered after police raided his home.

His barrister, Dyfed Thomas, said Durrant had been viewing child pornography since he was in his 40s. He now appreciated he had a problem and had voluntarily referred himself to a doctor.

There was no suggestion, he added, that Durrant had gone further than look at photographs.

Judge Thomas told Durrant, "The only conclusion that can be drawn from the material found is that you have a long standing inclination to and interest in paedophilia.

"You have an intelligent but warped mind.

"These are real children experiencing real sexual brutality. They are treated that way, to be filmed in the act, for the sexual enjoyment of perverted individuals like you.

"Without people like you there would not be a market for this evil trade," he added.