John Willis, of Bolton Road, Aspull, stood before Wigan and Leigh justices to admit to a single charge of creating 9,664 category C (the least serious in legal terms) pictures of youngsters between November 24 2019 and June 3 2020.
He was given a four-month prison sentence but it was suspended for 12 months.
He will be under supervision for 12 months during which time he must complete 20 days of rehabilitation activities.
Willis has also been made the subject of a seven-year sexual harm prevention order mainly restricting computer, internet and social media use, and he must sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the same amount of time.