A FORMER senior law lecturer at Oxford Brookes University used his office computer to download thousands of indecent pictures of children.

Nicholas Goddard , formerly of Church Road, Chipping Norton, avoided jail after his defence barrister said he had fallen “to a level he never thought he would be reduced to in his life”.

The 57-year-old father-of-three admitted 11 counts of possessing, and one count of distributing, indecent images of children between 2008 and 2012.

Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, told a judge in Oxford Crown Court this week he was caught after officers from Thames Valley Police’s specialist online team found him communicating with known paedophiles.

In February 2012 he was ar-rested and confessed to using his work computer to download pictures of children, share them online, and discuss them with other adults. Officers found a total of 3,699 images and videos stored on his computer, a USB stick and a hard drive, including 295 of children being abused.

According to an Oxford Brookes website, Goddard joined the university in 2002 after 20 years in private practice. Judge Ian Pringle said the lecturer also served in the armed forces before he retrained as a specialist in construction law.

Lucy Tapper, defending, said Goddard, who now lives in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, had already taken a sex offenders’ course run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

She said: “He is a man who has been stripped down to his absolute core and reduced to a level he never though he would be reduced to in his life.

“In my submission this case is not about punishment, but rehabilitation.”

Judge Pringle said to Goddard, who had no previous convictions, that for most of his life he had been a “pillar of the community”.

He said: “But you had a secret, and your secret was that you were becoming increasingly fascinated by images of children.

“Anyone who has had the misfortune of having to look at those images knows the appalling nature of them.”

He sentenced Goddard to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a two-year sex offender treatment course. Judge Pringle also made the defendant subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered him to pay £340 costs.

Investigating officer Simon Beaton said: “We never lose sight that each individual image depicts a child being abused. Looking for the image, storing it and sharing it is part of the story of the abuse of these children.

“Our message to those people engaged in this activity is simple, we will trace you and bring you to justice.”

Speaking after the hearing, Oxford Brookes spokesman Edward Reed confirmed Goddard had resigned from his post after he was suspended.