A MAN stashed computers and phones containing images of child abuse inside a chicken coop.

Kevin Flowers has been spared jail after he lied to police when they asked him how many phones and computers he owned.

The 53-year-old of High Street, Shoebury was previously given a community order on December 3, 2018 for possessing indecent images of children.

As part of his conditions, he was required to tell police what electronic devices he had and that he couldn’t access the internet.

However, on at least two occasions he did not reveal the stash of computers and phones in a chicken coop in the garden.

Flowers was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Samantha Cohen told the court: “Almost immediately after the police asked what devices you had, you lied, you told them you only had one telephone. The truth was you had another three telephones and two computers hidden in a bag in the bottom of the garden.

“Three months later you were asked the same thing and you lied, you said one telephone and did not tell them about the stash at the bottom of the garden.

“They found them. You had, during the course of the last investigation when you were on bail, continued to access and view indecent images of children.”

The court was told Flowers had more than 2,000 images, including 622 category A, the most serious kind, and three images of extreme pornography.

Judge Cohen accepted that they had been accessed before the community order was issued and that Flowers had not looked at them since.

Flowers, who has learning difficulties, was handed a 16 month suspended prison sentence and 60 days rehabilitation for making indecent images and failing to comply with notification requirements.