SHOCK and outrage has swept through the community after a man from Cam was spared prison despite watching 30 hours of “vile” videos which showed children being sexually abused.

Matthew Gardner, 27, was handed an eight-month prison term, suspended for two years, at Gloucester Crown Court on Friday, and ordered to do a 20-day rehabilitation course.

The judge, recorder Adam Vaitilingam QC, made a five-year sexual harm prevention order against Gardner and ordered him to sign the sex offender register.

Afterwards, people throughout the Cam and Dursley community expressed their anger that he had avoided prison.

They were even more exasperated when Gardner moaned about the case having a “big impact” on his life on social media shortly after he was sentenced, showing no remorse and no consideration for the children who were abused in the videos he watched.

Gardner had pleaded guilty to four charges, including making 99 indecent movies of children, of the most extreme kind – Category A – between December 2014 and September 2016.

He also admitted making 28 Category B movies and 45 at Category C, and having an extreme pornographic film involving a woman and a dog.

The C category videos were of naked girls aged 10 to 12.

Gardner was arrested on Monday, December 12 and accepted his guilt but blamed drink and drugs, prosecutor Nick O’Brien told the court.

Sarah Jenkins, defending him, said: “For an offender of this type he is relatively young. He is presently not in work.”

She said Gardner had written the court a letter to say that "because of press reports" he felt "confined to the house."

Recorder Vaitilingam told Gardner: “Your computer was full of vile material.

"If you commit any further offences during the next two years or if you breach the requirements of my order you will end up serving the sentence in prison.”

Afterwards, Gardner took to social media app Snapchat to comment, saying the case had “had a big impact on my life but with my nearest and dearest I might just overcome this.”

Residents were outraged that Gardner avoided prison, expressing their frustration on Facebook

Natasha Sherman wrote: “How can you let someone like that roam the streets still?”

A spokesman for the NSPCC said: “The youngsters in these pictures and videos are the victims of child abuse and the horrific experiences they endured for the images to be created should not be underestimated.”