A man who claimed to be a screenwriter has been jailed for five years for downloading disgusting images of children.

Alan Morris said he was working on a script about child prostitution and had accessed chatrooms “to gain the confidence of paedophiles” during his research.

But the 60 year old has now admitted downloading 25,000 illegal child images – including some at the worst level.

Now Judge Heather Norton has told Morris, of Poundhurst Road, Ruckinge, near Ashford, he posed a danger to children.

Canterbury Crown Court was told how the Paedophile Online Investigation Team raided his home in August last year and was told by him they would find images on his computer.

When his devices were examined, more than 25,000 indecent images were recovered, including pictures and movies.

Morris admitted to the possession of indecent images but told police that his hobby was film-making and the things he’d been looking at and sharing were part of his research.

The court heard he had used the name Jon on Chatstep – and later claimed he was a part-time writer and actor.

He said he had used “kid chatroom” while researching a film called “Nemesis” which he was trying to produce.

He claimed he was hoping to talk with paedophiles or paedophile hunters in chatrooms.

He was released on bail but in December he was arrested a second time after police found evidence of him engaging in sexual communications with a child via online chat.

Morris was further charged with attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Chris Horan said: "Morris has shown himself to present a great risk to young people and thankfully he is now in prison where he’ll no longer pose a threat to them.

"He clearly showed no remorse for what we had discovered on his computer as he continued to commit the most grotesque crimes imaginable whilst already under our investigation.

"Our dedicated team is determined to put a stop to people like Morris and protect all young children. Rest assured we take the information we receive extremely seriously and act quickly in order to build cases that will bring offenders to justice."