Reverend Adrian Fereday, 50, who served parishes in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, downloaded and stored 22 images, featuring 24 girls aged between around two and nine, on his computer.

The images, which included 17 movies and five still images, ranged between levels one and five - where one is the least serious and five is the most.

One of the movies was graded at level five and 11 were graded at level four.

Fereday, from Stoke-on-Trent, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to 16 counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing indecent images of children and appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today for sentencing.

Judge Simon Lawler QC, said it would be a failure in his public duty if he did not imprison the vicar and described the material downloaded as 'disgusting' and 'offensive'.

"Many would say it is beyond belief that anyone, let alone a man of cloth who has worked with children, could have contemplated seeking out such material, let alone viewing it," he said.

"Every time you viewed, you breached the trust of those unhappy children."

Fereday was arrested by police in November last year and was subsequently suspended from his post as a vicar, which he had held since 1994, by the Diocese of Sheffield.

A spokeswoman said: "The Diocese of Sheffield is aware of the sentence imposed earlier today and has immediately implemented the necessary procedures as a result of this verdict."