A respected insurance broker who has made a 'hugely positive contribution' to the Jewish faith in the UK has avoided jail for child porn and bestiality offences.

Father of two Richard Neubauer, 66, was given an 18-month sentence suspended for two years at Gloucester Crown Court after he admitted 15 offences of possessing child and 'extreme' pornography.

Neubauer, of Millway, English Bicknor, in the Wye Valley, was also ordered to attend the Thames Valley sex offender programme and pay £250 costs.

He stood looking ashamed and distraught as Judge Jamie Tabor QC told him his offences had fuelled the work of 'wicked' men who abuse children to supply the evil trade in illegal porn.

Neubauer (pictured right) pleaded guilty to 11 charges of making indecent photographs of children between December 2007 and August 2012. He also admitted a charge of possessing 1,460 child porn images ranging across all categories of seriousness between the same dates.

And he pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing extreme pornography in August 2012 – an image of a person performing oral sex on a horse and two images which realistically portrayed life threatening acts.

Prosecutor Janine Woods said Gloucestershire Police were alerted to Neubauer's offences by the Metropolitan Police who had been monitoring a website called Motherless.com.

Met officers had seen that a user called 'Barelover' who also used the names 'Bic' and 'Bicnor' was engaging in chat relating to child abuse.

"These screen names were traced to the defendant," she said. "On 24th August last year a search warrant was executed at his home. When arrested and cautioned he said 'I know what this is about'."

Among images found by the police were some of women having sex with horses.

"He admitted using the screen names and looking at indecent images because, due to his medication, he has erectile dysfunction. He said his wife had lost interest in sex.

"He agreed that he sent images to other contacts.

"He said he liked girls in school uniform of 13, 14 and 15 years of age. He said 'I looked at them in a sexual way divorced from reality of actually physically abusing a child'."

Neubauer was of previous good character, she added.

Defence lawyer Nigel Richardson said Neubauer's wife and two sons, 44 and 37, were standing by him. His wife and younger son were in the public gallery, he said.

Judge Tabor told Mr Richardson the seriousness of the case was that child porn only existed because of people like Neubauer.

"Little children are being horribly abused by the people who produce these wicked images," he said.

"These are wicked child abusers, demeaning and damaging children so they can financially gain from it by finding people such as your client. By downloading it he is perpetuating it."

Mr Richardson said the problem was that men like Neubauer sitting in front of their computers divorced themselves from the reality of where the images came from.

Neubauer would delete images because he was sickened by them – but then go about getting more, he explained.

"He knew how bad it was," he said,

Mr Richardson told the court that as well as playing a prominent role in the insurance world – including being chairman of his local body in the profession – Neubauer had thrown himself into the Jewish faith since discovering late in life that he is a Jew.

"He didn't know he was Jewish until after his father died," he said. "His father had come to this country and hidden his background.

"The defendant has been accepted into the Jewish faith. He has become a Jew and his wife has also converted.

"He has thrown himself into activities and has embraced the faith. He has worked hard for that faith.

"He has made a hugely positive contribution to that society and to his small community."

Mr Richardson said Neubauer's wife blamed herself for not saying 'no' to her husband viewing porn on the computer. She felt if she had stopped him he would not have escalated to illegal porn.

Mrs Neubauer had now installed a secret password on the computer which her husband does not know and she has told him the marriage will be over if he accessess porn on it again, added Mr Richardson.

He said Neubauer had been taking Seroxat medication for panic attacks and that was known to have a side effect of reducing inhibitions.

As soon as Neubauer was arrested he was frank with police and he joined a 'Stop it Now' course, he added.

"He feels he has let himself and his famiy down. He feels he has let his faith down. He feels he las let his late father down."

Mr Richardson asked the court to reward Neubauer for the 'exemplary life' he had led until now.

Judge Tabor told Neubauer it was bound to be hard for a man who had led a pro-social and blameless life to be in court on such serious and degrading charges.

The judge said he took into account in passing sentence the 'inevitable publicity' that would follow the case and the effect it would have on Neubauer's standing in the community.

"It is going to bring you low," he said. "It will mean you will not be looked at in the way you have been hitherto by those associated with you."