Father-of-two Marc Lindsay told how he has paid the price for downloading child pornography from the Internet.

Speaking from his home in Castle Street, Banbury, Lindsay described how the breakdown of his marriage led to his downfall.

He said: "I was just feeling very low and depressed and that was what got me started on the Internet.

"I just did it once or twice but then I got caught and now I'm paying the price for my stupid mistake."

During sentencing last week, Bicester magistrates ordered Lindsay to register as a sex offender and put him on probation for three years. He was also ordered to pay £70 court costs. Magistrates were told that when Lindsay's relationship with his wife deteriorated, he spent more time on the Internet, often staying up through the night.

His wife became suspicious when he began switching off the computer every time she entered the room.

She found details of one of the pre-teen porn sites on a piece of paper and took the details to the police.

In interview, Lindsay said he got "turned on" by the images downloaded from the Internet. Several were shown to magistrates. Lindsay pleaded guilty to five charges of possessing indecent computer images of children and one of distributing indecent photographs. He has also been ordered to attend the Thames Valley Project for Sex Offenders.

Lindsay, 34, was living in Caversfield, near Bicester, before he was charged by police.

He told the Oxford Mail how he turned to porn sites on the Internet when his wife began having an affair with a family friend earlier in the year.

He said the friend came to live with the couple as he was preparing to move house and that was how their relationship started. As his relationship with his wife spiralled downwards, he began spending more and more time on his computer.

He said he was not bitter for what his wife did and the couple have not divorced. He currently still has access to his two children, aged three and six.

He added: "We are still on good terms and throughout the court case I was very keen to keep them out of it.

"I accept what I did was wrong and I understand the reason for the case appearing in the newspapers."

Lindsay said he has lost his job as a breakdown mechanic although he was hopeful of getting new employment soon.

Story date: Monday 25 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.