A FORMER RAF serviceman who viewed indecent images of youngsters as he explored the weather online has avoided jail.

John Cossburn confessed he looked at 70 indecent images and 26 videos of exploited teenagers between 12 and 14 for his sexual gratification.

Sentencing the sex offender yesterday, Judge Ian Pringle QC gave Cossburn with a two-year community order, with a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 120-hours unpaid work.

The judge said: “For the first time in your life, you appear before a criminal court. Make sure that this is the only time you ever appear in court.”

Walking out of the dock, the 67-year-old said: “Thank you for understanding your honour.”

Police tracked Cossburn from his IP address, scouring his then Abingdon home for indecent material and seizing his silver Dell laptop, prosecutor Cathy Olliver said.

Officers discovered he accessed the abusive content on a free cloud service, hosted by a Russian company, and bookmarked a paedophile website on his internet browser.

The paedophile also scoured online for the images and videos using related search terms.

Defence barrister Lyall Thompson said Cossburn, now of Leamington Drive, Faringdon, had shown ‘heartfelt’ remorse and was ashamed of his offending.

Cossburn, who was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offenders register, had an ‘exemplary’ career, serving for 23 years in the RAF.

The former Wantage Independent Advice Centre volunteer driver was ‘curious’ about nature’ and things hidden on the internet, spending a lot of time online after retiring at 60.

Cossburn admitted three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child between April 3, 2012, and January 7, 2016.