A Kent law student who downloaded more than 21,000 pictures and videos of children being abused has walked free from court.

More than 60 of the images found were rated at the most serious level and involved extreme abuse, such as sadism and bestiality.

They were found on Leo Ng's laptop in Canterbury, where he was studying at the University of Kent, and at his family home in Cambridge.

Ng, 23, admitted two counts of making indecent images and was given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years with supervision.

He was also ordered to attend an internet sex offenders' programme and sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

Judge Jonathan Haworth told him at Cambridge Crown Court: "You are a man of previous good character who became obsessed with downloading these images to feed your sexual fantasies.

"I think addressing that [with the programme] is far more likely to prevent a reoccurrence of those offences than a few months in prison."