The actor Chris Langham has been sentenced to ten months in jail for downloading “horrifying” child pornography.

The comedian was found guilty of making indecent images of children in August, after a trial in which he was also cleared of a further allegation of sexually abusing a girl over several years beginning when she was aged 14.

He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court for downloading images and video clips with names such as “bondage 11-year-old”, “Philippine child prostitute” and “Lolita”. He has already been in custody for 43 days and despite being sentenced to ten months he is only expected to serve a further three and a half months.

Langham admitted that he had downloaded the images during the trial but claimed he had done so because he was researching a role for the BBC sitcom Help. His co-star Paul Whitehouse told the court that he had no knowledge of any such research.

Judge Philip Statman said one of the victims was aged around eight-years-old, while others were between 11 and 13 years old.

“Some of the children viewed are clearly prepubescent, others are fully developed, some of the children are clearly of Filipino extract," he said.

“All have had inflicted upon them horrifying sexual abuse and, I want to make this absolutely clear to you, I must think first of those children. They are too young to consent.

“Your activity took place in the comfort of your own home, no doubt at the time feeling safe in the knowledge that you would never be caught.”

During an emotional appearance in the witness box the actor, who starred in The Thick Of It, described how he was abused as a child.

He told the court that the incident, which took place when he was aged 8, made him want to address the issue by viewing the pornography.

Langham was caught out by Operation Ore, an international police operation that traced hundreds of people who had used their credit cards to access child pornography. Paul Gadd, better known as Gary Glitter, and Pete Townsend were also exposed.

When his arrest was made public he was accused by a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, of having sexually abused her when she was 14. Langham admitted having sex with the woman once, when she was 18, at a hotel in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. He said that he regretted it almost immediately, but had no sexual relationship with her at an earlier age.

The woman told the court that she had developed a relationship with Langham after first meeting him on her 14th birthday at the Palace Theatre, where he was performing in Les Miserables.

She said Langham took her to The Ivy restaurant and to Harvey Nichols, and bought her gifts including a £200 pair of Armani trousers.

However, he was found not guilty of ten counts of indecent assault and two counts of a serious sexual offence against the woman between 1996 and 2000.

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