A paedophile who downloaded thousands of ‘sick’ images of children stabbed himself in the stomach and eye in self-disgust.

Paul Higgins, 53, downloaded almost 14,500 images of children and other pornographic images for his own sexual gratification.

But after being arrested, Higgins went on a horrific mission of self-mutilation, stabbing himself in the stomach and knifing his eye.

Higgins, who shares a flat with his elderly mother in Handforth, was taken into custody for his own safety after the attacks, which left him needing surgery to remove his spleen and blind in one eye, following his arrest in April last year.

Appearing before Chester Crown Court, Higgins was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to possessing 14,388 images of children – the majority were 10.

Higgins sobbed in the dock as Judge David Hale branded him a ‘pitiful creature’ while sentencing him for the 16 offences of possession of indecent images and videos of children, one offence of making pornographic images of children and one charge of possessing extreme pornographic images.

Higgins was identified as a user of explicit online pornographic sites during an intelligence  investigation by Danish police

Defending, John Williams, said Higgins had a history of self-harm and following his release from police custody had attempted to kill himself on a number of occasions.