Police who seized a Jewellery Quarter worker's phone after raiding his home found pictures of a woman having sex with a snake.

They also discovered more than 600 indecent images of children on the mobile which belonged to father-of-two John Avery.

Birmingham Crown Court heard police went to the 56-year-old's Castle Bromwich home on March 12 this year after obtaining a search warrant.

His mobile phone contained the indecent images of children plus 22 bestiality photos - including a woman having sex with a snake, horse and dog.

Birmingham Crown Court

Joseph Keating, defending, said: "A lot of these items were sent to him and he did not open them immediately.

"However he did open them, saw the images and kept them."

He said Avery had worked in the jewellery trade for more than 40 years and that this matter had had a devastating effect on his family life.

At the time his sex life had taken a real down turn after suffering from low libido and he now no longer looked at pornography at all.

Avery, now living on a canal boat in Norton Canes, near Walsall, had previously admitted three charges of making indecent images, possessing a prohibited image and possessing extreme pornography.

He was sentenced to a three year community order and ordered to sign on the sex offenders register for five years.

He was told by Judge Roderick Henderson: "These are not victimless crimes. The photos involve real children to whom real things are being done.

"The court will do its best to protect these children."

The judge said, though, that if he had passed a prison sentence it would only have been a short one and in jail Avery would probably spend time with more confirmed paedophiles.