A MAN has appeared in court accused of amassing a collection of nearly 59,000 sexual images of children.

Thomas Reber appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court for the first time yesterday charged with three counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

Of the most serious kind, category A, Reber is accused of having 19 images and 109 films.

These can include material involving sexual activity with an animal or sadism.

Kathy Wilson, prosecuting, urged magistrates to deny jurisdiction of the case which could either be dealt with at magistrates or crown court.

She said: “This isn’t suitable for a summary trial.

“The police attended the defendant’s work address to arrest him and searched his home.

“A number of items were seized and examined, and contained a total of 58,594 images of different categories.”

Ms Wilson added: “A number of those category A images and movies involve children aged between three and seven-years-old.

“One of the category A films depicts a child between seven and ten-years-old and is an hour and 45 minutes long.

“This is far outside the sentencing remit of this court and I would invite you to decline jurisdiction.”

The bench agreed and gave Reber, 39, of Peache Road, Colchester, unconditional bail until his Chelmsford Crown Court appearance in May for a pre-trial hearing.

Defence solicitor Raph Pigott gave no submissions on his client’s behalf.

The alleged offences date back to between January 2010 and July 2017.

The court was told police found 17 category B photographs and 22 films.

It is alleged he also had 58,370 category C images and 57 films of youngsters.

Reber, who has no previous convictions, faces anything from six months to three years in prison if he is found guilty.

He gave no plea to any three charges.

He spoke only to tell the court about how he is employed at his partner’s local business in the warehouse.

He said: “It’s a small company with about ten employees. It’s a family business.”