An assistant beaver leader has admitted downloading indecent images of children.

Patrick Jackaman appeared at Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Tuesday afternoon to admit three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing prohibited images of children.

The 24-year-old was arrested on October 11, 2019, after police attended his Hossack Road address, in the Gainsborough area of Ipswich, and seized a number of devices, including a MacBook Air laptop, computer tower unit, iPad and iPhone, all found to contain indecent images and videos.

Prosecutor Priscilla Afful-Mensah said the devices contained a total of 49 images in the most serious 'A' category of indecency, as well as 16 category A videos, 110 category B images and 22 category B videos, 101 category C images and seven category C videos, along with 3,040 prohibited images and 147 prohibited videos of children.

Miss Afful-Mensah said Jackaman complied fully with police following his arrest, providing officers with the necessary passwords and PINs to access the devices, which contained images depicting the sexual abuse of boys and girls as young as five.

In a police interview, Jackaman claimed to have knowingly clicked on 'illegal popups' while looking at adult pornography online.

Miss Afful-Mensah said the offences were aggravated by Jackaman's role as an assistant beaver leader with the scouting movement at the time.

The court heard that Jackaman had no previous convictions.

Shelley Drew, mitigating, invited magistrates to adjourn the case for the preparation of a pre-sentence report by the probation service.

The bench released Jackaman on bail until his appointment with the probation service, followed by his sentencing at the same court on August 20.

The scout movement said Jackaman's role was terminated as soon as the police brought the matter to its attention.