A bad excuse

What sort of an excuse is this?

Hill's defence team said that he had been collecting such images for a number of years, and told a hearing at Derby Magistrates' Court that their client deeply regretted committing the offence, and was previously a "man of good character".

from here. Not a particularly good one, I would have thought, and my only current interest in it is that I've seen it offered in 2 different places in the space of 2 days, with reference to similar crimes.