Bosses at a Herne Bay finance company were expecting to find words like "mortgage rates" and "investments" when they searched the internet history of one of their workers.

But what principal Stephen Walters discovered on Rory Bullock's company computer in Mortimer Street shocked him.

Instead of fiscal terms, he found Bullock had been looking for bondage images featuring children

Financial adviser Bullock was later confronted by police officers and told them he had "always been sexually aroused by people being tied up".

The 24-year-old, of Mortimer Street, pleaded guilty to possessing more than 100 illegal images.

Judge Adele Williams jailed him for six months, telling him: "These were sadistic poses of real children who were being exploited."

She said the former Herne Bay High School straight-A pupil had been "a highly intelligent young man" who had now sought treatment for his problems.

"You knew what you were doing was both illegal and wrong," she added.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor told Canterbury Crown Court how in February last year, police were contacted by Mr Walters, a manager at Oyster Mortgages Services.

"Mr Walters reported that one of his employees had been accessing indecent images of children while using the company server," he said.

"These were sadistic poses of real children who were being exploited" - Judge Adele Williams

"Mr Walters also stated that he was concerned by certain keywords used by the suspect when checking his internet history on Chrome web browser."

The following day, February 6, officers went to the company's office and were shown a sample of the images.

Mr Taylor said: "The images depicted young boys in sadistic poses whereby their wrists or feet were tied together with rope," he added.

The court heard how police then raided Bullock's flat, where they discovered images of "predominantly young boys in sadistic settings", but also girls, on his home computer.

Mr Taylor added: "There are very few images which feature adults and there is no sexual activity seen in any of the images."

Judge Williams, together with the prosecutor and defence barrister Tanya Robinson, went into chambers to view a selection of the images on Bullock’s computer.

Now Bullock, who has been sacked from his job, will be made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, banning him from accessing the internet with a computer or phone which can delete the history.

Ms Robinson said although some of the images depicted sadism, none of them showed victims "in pain or distress or being sexually touched. They were cruel more than indecent".

But Judge Williams said she found Bullock's excuse for having the pictures as "rather trite" after hearing he said he searched for the fetish pictures to cope with feelings of "low self-esteem and worthlessness".

After the hearing, an NSPCC spokesperson said: "This is a shocking case involving sadistic images of children. To create these images, children have been exploited and have suffered and merely viewing them creates a market for these kinds of images to be created. More children will be exploited as a result.

"The judge described him as an 'intelligent' man. He should have known that to view and possess these despicable images was illegal."