A school chef had a library of thousands of indecent pictures of children as young as four, York Magistrates' Court heard.

Some of the worst category of sexual images were distributed via Mariusz Borowski’s internet device to at least one other person, said Kathryn Walters, prosecuting.

Deputy district judge Ian Barnes said the 45-year-old had searched on the internet for nine years for pictures and videos of children being sexually abused.

“You were working at a school during this offending, albeit there is no suggestion any of the offending is related to that work,” the judge told Borowski.

“In my view the powers of this court are insufficient to deal with this case and therefore your case will be committed for sentence to the crown court.”

Borowski, of Chatsworth Terrace, Holgate, York, pleaded guilty to three charges of having indecent images of children and one of having an extreme pornographic image.

He initially denied two charges of distributing indecent images of children but changed his plea on the day he was due to stand trial.

His solicitor Emily Calman said defence experts commissioned for the trial had decided it was “very unlikely” that Borowski was aware that he was distributing indecent images.

The charges Borowski admitted stated that he had a total of 2,938 pictures and 190 videos of children being sexually abused.

They included 486 pictures and 170 of the worst category of indecent images of children, 567 pictures and seven videos of the middle category and 1,885 pictures and 13 videos of the least serious category.

He also admitted distribution of 11 videos of the worst category and one of the least serious category.

Borowski was released on bail on condition he had no contact with children under 16. All the offences were committed in October 2020, except for the extreme pornography offence which was committed in July 2020.

He will appear before York Crown Court on November 30 to be sentenced. A Polish interpreter translated proceedings for him.

Mrs Walters said police received a tip-off that led them to Borowski. He was arrested and his internet equipment seized and searched.

Some of the images depicted children as young as four and on the seized items, police found evidence that Borowski had been searching for indecent images of children for a “long period of time”.

“There is a breach of trust committed by him working at a school,” she said.

Ms Calman said of Borowski: “He clearly shows his disgust at the offending.”

Borowski accepted that his offences were serious enough to merit a prison sentence.

The probation service had indicated in a pre-sentence report it was prepared to work with him to tackle the causes of his offending and he was serious about rehabilitating himself.

Borowski had no previous convictions and had not offended since his arrest.

His personal relationship had broken down and he was now having to pay the running costs of two properties.