Damien John Price, 25, who has now left the Army, appeared for sentence at Chester Crown Court after admitting having the pictures on his computer when he lived with his girlfriend, Toni Marie Wright, at Elder Drive, Saltney.

A lengthy investigation by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) uncovered the images sent and received from an email address belonging to Price, now living in Worcester.

A total of 14 indecent images were found between December 3 and December 28, 2005, when Cheshire Police took on the investigation.

Price, who was a soldier in the Worcester and Sherwood Forest Regiment serving in the UK and Northern Ireland, also pleaded guilty to stealing a smoke grenade from the Army in June, 2006.

He also admitted stealing a chemical called tetracaine hydrochloride used as an anaesthetic gel when he was working as an agency cleaner for pharmaceutical business Wockhardt UK on Wrexham Industrial Estate.

Price admitted eight charges of making indecent images of children, one charge of the global possession of 14 indecent images and two charges of distributing two indecent images of children.

Simon Parry, prosecuting, said: "During the initial interview the defendant denied any knowledge of indecent images on the email address.

"The police investigation proceeded and police were able to find a number of emails sent to and from the defendant's computer.

"Fourteen images were sent or received."

Two of the images were of a level three category, four were of a level two category and eight were at level one category. The most serious type of image is level five.

"Search terms were put into the PC relating to abuse of children on December 27, 2005," Mr Parry said.

"He made a false alibi for December 28 which is when the images were made and sent and told officers he would be in camp at the Dale Barracks in Chester, but he was with the regiment in Hounslow."

Mr Parry explained the only other person that was registered to use the computer was his partner.

But investigations found Miss Wright was visiting her son in Ellesmere Port on December 28 so could not have been using the computer.

"The defendant would indulge on the internet while his partner was out of the house," Mr Parry said.

Lloyd Morgan, defending, said: "He's shown genuine regret and remorse and hasn't sought to blame anyone else.

"At the time he was having a difficult time and suffering from depression and on the verge of leaving the Army.

"The making of the images is the act of downloading them.

"It seems clear from the report (by the Probation Service) that the cause for the commission of these offences is from his youth.