A man has been jailed for a string of offences involving indecent images of children.

Peter Selley, 44, from Copthall Gardens Folkestone, was arrested in March last year and charged with 10 offences of distributing child abuse images, 15 offences of making indecent images and five

offences of possessing indecent images.

He was jailed for four years on Friday.

Selley previously worked in the IT and telecoms industry in London. He pleaded guilty to the charges at Folkestone magistrates court in December and has also asked for 12 other similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Computer equipment was seized from Selley’s home in Folkestone and following extensive investigation, Kent Police’s digital forensics unit found thousands of images and hundreds of videos.

Kent Police’s DC James Traynor, who led the investigation, said: 'Selley distributed and compiled a sickening collection indecent images and movies of children suffering real abuse over a period of at least eight years. People who commit child abuse image offences add to the demand for new images to be created and therefore more children become victims.'

Det Supt Paul Fotheringham added: “Selley has continuously interacted with other like-minded people distributing child abuse images of the very worse nature. I’m pleased that Kent Police’s Public Protection Crime Unit has once again removed a serious offender from Kent’s community and put him before the courts to receive just punishment.’

Officers viewed videos recovered from his computer, and found 152 indecent movies of children, the majority of which were of children under the age of 12.

These were found to be from all levels from one to five, including five at Class Five – the worst rating involving sadism and bestiality to children.

Due to the number of images recovered from Selley’s computers, officers were only able to grade a proportion of the images, however they still discovered 22,402 indecent images.

Selley was also found to have distributed more than 11,678 indecent images to other like minded individuals. Again, many were in the most serious category.

DC Traynor continued: 'Peter Selley was believed to be of good character. This case highlights that this type of offender can come from any social background and is not restricted to a stereotypical criminal. I would urge anyone who has information about this type of offence to report it to the police or through Crimestoppers.'

Upon his release Selley will have to sign the sex offenders register for life and will remain on license for three years. He is subject to a sex offences prevention order and he will never be able to work (including voluntary work) with children under the age of 16.