To his family and friends, devious Damian Peters appeared to have put his pervert past behind him.

The 39-year-old self-employed surveyor had rebuilt his life after a conviction six years ago for downloading sick sex images of children.

But when his wife checked their computer she discovered her two-faced partner had secretly continued his “infatuation with disturbing imagery”.

Now a judge has heard that even after his arrest, Peters then started a new relationship with the mother of a young girl.

Peters of Meadowbank Road, Kennington has now been jailed for three years after a jury at Canterbury Crown Court convicted him of downloading illegal images.

Judge Simon James told him: “For many years you have sought to delude yourself and those close to you that you are not sexually interested in children.

“But the plain fact is that you appear to have an insatiable appetite for viewing images of child sexual abuse.

“You had been able to rebuild your life but you were prepared to risk everything just to view similar images.”

In 2007 Peters he had been given a suspended jail sentence for making hundreds of indecent images of children and was given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

The court heard how outwardly – and with the support of family and friends - he appeared to have succeeded in changing.

But the “arrogant and ignorant“ Peters retained his “secret desire” to see the vile images – believing that if he didn’t save them on his computer then he wouldn’t be detected.

Prosecutor Bridget Todd said the SOPO had prohibited Peters from having a computer with access to the Internet – but the pervert got round that restriction by getting his wife to buy one.

And when officers seized the computer they discovered in its memory images of child rape, which Peters had tried to conceal.

At his trial he denied accessing the images and claimed his now ex-wife had reported him because of a vendetta against him.

But the judge told him: “You have sought throughout to blame everyone but yourself leaving your wife and your family wondering how you could have betrayed their trust and forgiveness.”

“You were given a chance in 2007 but now I think your fall from grace is complete. Any vestiges of respect you may have gained from others I suspect has now dissipated" - Judge Simon James

He praised Peters’ wife for her courage in giving evidence at the trial “such was her disgust at what she had discovered on her computer”.

He continued: “Instead of resulting in shame and contrition on your part, you sought to portray (your wife) as a vindictive liar. The jury saw through that and the only liar was yourself.

“You were given a chance in 2007 but now I think your fall from grace is complete. Any vestiges of respect you may have gained from others I suspect has now dissipated.

“You tried to minimise your offending to your wife, yet even after your arrest for these offences, you started another relationship with the mother of a young girl without informing her of your past or these proceedings.”

Peters, who had denied the downloading 180 images up to Level 5, was ordered to remain on the Sex Offender’s Register for life and given a new SOPO preventing him from accessing the Internet without the police being able to check what he had been viewing.