COMPUTER expert Stephen Mills was testing his skills when he downloaded 480 obscene images of children from the internet, he told police.

He experienced no sexual gratification from the pornographic images, he said.

They were produced to develop his technical prowess and they were not passed on.

Mills, 34, of Prospect Road, Stourport, was bailed for sentence at Worcester Crown Court on July 27 after magistrates at Kidderminster watched some of the illustrations of child abuse on a laptop computer.

He admitted 24 specimen offences of making indecent images of children during last year.

Some of the children were as young as seven, said prosecutor Sally Hill.

The charges were brought under the Protection of Children Act.

Police had gone to his house and searched his computer system, Miss Hill said.

Mills told them he had built the system from parts and was perfecting its use.

No-one else had access to the computer, said Alan Bull, for Mills.

Magistrates ordered Mills to register as a sex offender.