Businessman Andrew Rees-Long, of Devizes, has escaped prison after pleading guilty to making and distributing vile images of children as young as one.

Rees-Long, 42, of Castle Lane, was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to possessing 545 indecent images and film clips of children, six charges of making indecent images and six charges of distributing.

Prosecuting, Colin Meeke said 527 of the images were of children under the age of 13, some as young as one.

Rees-Long, who is the general manager of wholesale fruit and veg business DWB Long Ltd based in Whiteparish near Salisbury, had 120 pictures and two film clips at level four and 50 pictures at level 5, the most serious.

The court also heard Rees-Long had been accessing the images over a period of four years, from July 2005 to June 2009 and had distributed 64 images to six other users through Internet chatrooms.

Defending, William Mousley said Rees-Long had taken steps immediately on his arrest to get treatment, pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and fully co-operated with the police.

He added: “His remorse is genuine, evidenced by the positive steps that he has taken to undergo treatment, counselling and therapy, over a lengthy period of time.

“He is a man of good character, not only in the sense of no previous convictions but also the positive good character referred to in the references.

“He doesn’t shy away from the fact that these are serious offences. Pressures in his family life and at work, where he holds a position of considerable responsibility, led to him spending more time on the computer and getting drawn into the despicable business of looking at and distributing this sort of material.”

Mr Mousley also argued that if Rees-Long was sent to prison it would damage the family business, which is based in Whiteparish and has numerous greengrocers in the area, including Romsey, Southampton, Bournemouth and Ringwood. This would in turn affect staff.

“The effect on those other innocent people is likely to be very significant because he is the lifeblood of that business,” Mr Mousley said.

He said Rees-Long is married and has two sons, aged seven and 12, who would suffer both financially and emotionally if he went to prison. Rees-Long has been living apart from his wife for some time but Mr Mousley said she is willing to reconcile and wrote a letter of support to the judge.

He asked Judge John Dixon to give Rees-Long a community order so he could carry out a sex offenders’ treatment programme, which he argued he would not have time to complete in prison as probation suggest it can only be completed with sentences of more than three years.

Judge Dixon said: “You need no lectures from me about the seriousness of the offences that you have committed.

“You seem an intelligent and capable man but you have allowed yourself to be drawn into the awful and sordid world of child pornography.

“Some of the photographs which have been described are truly dreadful.

“I am left with a stark choice – a period of imprisonment insufficient to afford you access to treatment and wreak havoc on your business and personal life or adopt an apparently lenient course.

“You’re a man of previous good character, the lynch pin of the family business, husband of a wife who has loyally stood by you and all of the material I have read speaks highly of you.”

He sentenced him to a three-year community order with a supervision condition and a condition to attend a sex offenders’ treatment programme. He also told him he would have to sign the sex offenders’ register and remain on it for five years.