Preston paedophile Ian Walsh jailed as judge points out "the obvious pain and suffering" of children in his sickening collection of films and images

Ian Walsh, 31, formerly of Arundel Place, Preston and now of HMP Preston, is starting a two year jail term.

Walsh, who is subject to a five year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), was being monitored by Lancashire Police's Sex Offender Management Unit after being convicted of similar offences in 2016.

A probe unearthed a sickening cache of 115 films of children being abused, along with 508 indecent images of youngsters and six involving animals.

Preston Crown Court heard 62 of the films and 200 images were deemed category A - the most serious in law.

Prosecutors said Walsh's first phone was seized in December 2017.

In a further unannounced visit by police a Samsung Galaxy phone with a memory device was also taken to be studied.

The attempt to delete his search history put him in breach of his SHPO.

Walsh, who used to live in Moor Road, Chorley, denied purposely downloading images and suggested they related to a 'dropbox' before his arrest in 2016.

He has since admitted possessing and making indecent images, and extreme images, as well as breaching his order.

Defending Tom Lord, said: "The defendant acknowledges through me that his thinking was extremely distorted, glaringly so, worryingly so.

"Being exposed to high level offenders in custody has brought the seriousness of his offending home to him."

Judge Beverley Lunt said: " There a significant number of images here.

" There are of course other aggravating features - the failure to comply with the court order, which to use your expression, 'didn't phase you', that you have carried on downloading and looking at images, the age and vulnerability of the children in the images, and the obvious pain and suffering of those children."

He will be on the Sex Offender's Register for life.