A convicted murderer has been jailed for a second time after police discovered thousands of downloaded videos and images containing child sex abuse at his home.

John Pattison confessed to possessing a horde of illegal material following a search at his home address in Gabriel’s Hill, Maidstone.

Pattison, 65, stored the collection of harrowing material on several memory cards, which included the abuse of victims as young as six-months-old.

He was arrested on Monday, December 5 in 2022, after officers from Kent Police’s paedophile online investigation team carried out a search of his home and seized several electronic devices, along with the memory cards.

When the digital storage devices were forensically examined they were found to contain multiple files, including almost 1,000 videos and images in the most serious category.

Within 24 hours of his arrest, Pattison appeared before Medway Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.

Pattison had been the subject of a life licence following a murder conviction in 2001 but this licence was revoked and he was recalled to prison.

“He described viewing these images as a drug that he was unable to control...”

The licence had come into force when he was released from prison in 2019, having served 18 years.

On Wednesday May 24 Pattison was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to 16 months’ imprisonment.

Judge Philip Statman described the collection of images as “a small library” and told the court that any future release from prison would be a matter for the parole board. A Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting 10 years was also imposed.

DC Carl Evans said: “Pattison was downloading images and videos of child abuse almost on a daily basis and he described viewing these images as a drug that he was unable to control.

“His disturbing behaviour has demonstrated a significant threat to children, and he has shown a complete lack of understanding that the material he downloaded will have resulted from real victims suffering appalling abuse.”