A paedophile has been jailed after thousands of indecent images of children were found on his computers and hard drive.

Police raided the former home of David Bland in Ramsgate in April 2018 and located multiple devices including three computers and an external hard drive which were taken away for forensic analysis.

Specialist software was used by police which provided evidence of nearly 4,500 illegal images and multiple internet searches relating to indecent pictures.

Bland denied knowing anything about it and told officers that no images of children would be found on his devices.

But at court, the 61-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing indecent photographs of children, three counts of making indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing extreme pornographic images and one count of possessing prohibited images of a child.

He was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court today to two years’ imprisonment and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

Detective Constable Graham Oliver from Kent Police’s Online Investigation Team, said: "David Bland denied having any indecent images of children on the multiple devices that he owned.

"He tried to hide what he was searching for.

"He had showed strong intent and determination to access illegal images of children and make no mistake those images will have resulted from real children suffering appalling abuse.

"People like Bland have no understanding of the gravity of their actions, but through the hard work of our officers he has now been brought to justice."

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