A convicted child sex offender is back behind bars after he downloaded images of abuse on a mobile phone he was barred from possessing.

Gavin Thornton was caught with the sickening child abuse images and videos when specialist police officers carried out an impromptu search of his home.

The 44-year-old was caught with more than 7,000 indecent images of children with more than 600 in the worst legal category.

Cole Cockburn, prosecuting, said the defendant was caught with images in September 2022 and again earlier this year when police searched his home.

He said: “In September 2022, police searched his home and discovered a number of electrical devices, including a laptop and a smartphone, which there then analysed.

“The images featured children as young as four subjected to various forms of sexual abuse.”

The court heard how the defendant was released on bail but continued to download child sexual abuse images.

He was convicted of similar offences in January this year and was given a suspended prison sentence.

Mr Cockburn said the defendant was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirement order as the result of the earlier conviction.

The court heard how Thornton had failed to register a new smart phone and a number of aliases he was using to contact people online.

Gavin ThorntonGavin Thornton (Image: Cleveland Police)

Thornton, formerly of Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to breaching his SHPO, breaching the conditions of his notification requirement order, six charges of making indecent images of children and one of distributing an indecent image of a child.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said his client had spent ten months in custody since his arrest which is the equivalent of a 20-month prison sentence.

He added: “In the short time from the order being imposed and his offending, he had engaged enthusiastically with the probation service and there were no problems at all in that respect.

“He is a man who plainly wants to avoid this compulsion he has.”

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Judge Jonathan Carroll locked the convicted sex offender up for a total of two years and eight months for all offences after he activated his previous suspended sentence for the 'high risk' offender.

“You have already had two sets of previous offences, all of a similar type,” he said.

“When the police officer attended your home, you had two opportunities to make a clean breast of the situation, you were still committing offences.

“It is clear to me that you are at a level of risk which cannot be safely managed in the community.”