A dangerous paedophile was “glad” to be caught with horrific images of children because he was on the verge of hunting a new victim.

Allan Spratt admitted his plans after police raided his Deal home to uncover the disgusting library on his Samsung phone.

The 46-year-old has now been jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for two years and five months.

“In police interview he said he was glad he was caught because he was on a slippery slope to commit a contact offence with a child,” prosecutor Robin Griffith said.

Spratt was convicted of having sexual activity with a child 12 years ago.

Posing as a 13-year-old boy online, the married predator groomed a girl over a number of months, convincing her he was “her boyfriend.”

When they exchanged pictures he claimed to suffer from a rare disease that made him look older.

He would soon tell the girl he loved her and convinced her to go on a shopping trip to Sheffield.

Spratt took her to see a Disney film and for a meal, then persuaded her to stay with him in a budget hotel, and had sex with her twice.

Spratt was arrested after telling a family member about his actions and then pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child in 2010 -statutory rape.

He was sentenced to six years and placed on the sex offenders’ register.

Kent Police received a tip-off in December last year that Spratt was downloading indecent images from his mother’s house.

After raiding the property Spratt, who runs an eBay business, told officers he felt on the verge of making contact with a child.

'He was glad he was caught because he was on a slippery slope to commit a contact offence with a child...'

Police found nine category A, 18 category B and eight category C images, a combination of pictures and videos.

They also discovered Spratt had made persistent “systematic” internet searches using chilling terms like ‘jailbait.’

Judge Mark Weekes told Spratt he had been “absolutely blatant”, and highlighted “the misery” caused to the victims of those children in the images.

Following his latest round of offences, Spratt, of Westerhout Close, Deal, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images, three counts of making indecent images, a breach of notification requirements and breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

James Burke, mitigating, argued there had been a four-year gap since Spratt’s last breach of notification requirements and he suffers from depression.

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