A convicted paedophile who had downloaded child abuse images on a secret phone was caught out when its alarm sounded during a routine police visit.

Mark Royle had denied having any undeclared internet-enabled devices when officers from the Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) team carried out a routine check at his home in Chatham in March last year.

But Maidstone Crown Court was told that as they chatted to the 58-year-old, a ringing sound suddenly erupted and was traced to his bathroom.

In an effort to hide his deviant criminality, Royle then claimed it belonged to a female friend - only for it to be unlocked with his fingerprint.

Stored in the gallery were more than 400 indecent images, both moving and stills, of all categories of seriousness and depicting children between the ages of five and 12.

He later claimed his illicit downloading from the dark web was "very regimented" and likened it to an addiction.

It was also said that Royle had himself been a victim of childhood sexual abuse, with one of those responsible later convicted as part of Operation Yewtree - the police investigation into offences committed by Jimmy Savile and other high profile figures, and which led to the likes of Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter being jailed.

As well as the hidden phone, police also recovered an iPad, two laptops, two hard drives and a second phone, all of which Royle had not disclosed or was restricted from having under the terms of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and his sex offender notification requirements.

The court heard the offences, which also included a failure to disclose a username, had been committed while he was on licence from prison.

Royle, of Chestnut Avenue, Chatham, later admitted nine SHPO breaches, a failing to notify charge, and three offences of making indecent photographs of children.

Prosecutor Lily Hayes told the court at his sentencing hearing on August 21 that he has numerous previous convictions in relation to abuse images and has been on the sex offender register since 2006.

Although the SHPO allowed Royle to have internet-enabled devices, he was required to declare them to police within three days of acquisition, make them available on request, and ensure any history was retained.

During a routine visit in January last year he produced a "basic" phone for examination, which he said he had been given by his probation officer and had no internet connection.

Officers returned in March and Royle showed them the same phone before again denying when asked that he had any others.

However, it was at that moment that his hidden device literally sounded the alarm that he was lying.

Ms Hayes told the court: "The visit continued and while all parties were talking, an alarm similar to a phone ring tone rang out in a separate room.

"The defendant was challenged and he said it was his alarm. He got up and went into a bedroom. One of the officers followed and heard the alarm coming from the bathroom.

"He glanced inside and saw an internet-enabled device. The defendant was challenged about it and he said it wasn't his and had been left there by a friend.

"He was asked to unlock it using his fingerprint, which initially didn't work. He said it belonged to a friend and gave a female's name and phone number."

Police then rang that number but although the woman confirmed she had left behind a phone, it was a different colour to the one that had been discovered.

It was only then, having been warned he would be arrested, that Royle successfully unlocked the device with his fingerprint.

But after he claimed he had found it just two days earlier "in boxes" and was using it as an alarm, police inspected it and "immediately" accessed the illegal images.

A search of his home was then carried out and the other electronic items were detected and seized.

The court heard a total of 317 category A images were found, together with 46 in category B and 62 classified as category C.

When interviewed by police, Royle confirmed the phone belonged to him and gave the passcode. He said he had purchased it from Argos about six years ago and used it for "everything" including non-illegal activity.

However, he said that having been released from prison in 2022 he had only used it intermittently for about one-and-a-half months after taking it out of storage.

"He said he looked at illegal images every four to five days - once a week - and was very regimented," Ms Hayes told the court.

"He likened it to being an addiction where he would collect the images. He said he would sometimes look at the images he downloaded but not always, and just downloaded more and more.

"He said he could access them very easily via the dark web."

Royle said the iPad was something a friend had given him several years earlier to watch YouTube videos on while recovering in hospital from heart surgery, and one of the laptops had only been given to him the evening before his arrest.

Sam Lubner, defending, told the hearing there was "frankly no mitigation" for the offending itself. But in respect of Royle as a person, he detailed the abuse suffered while growing up in Manchester.

Although Mr Lubner said he would not state the name of one of those responsible in open court, he explained: "The sexual abuse he suffered began when he was seven and lasted until he was 16.

"There were different people involved in this. One was an individual convicted as part of Operation Yewtree and he (Royle) himself was interviewed by police as a witness.

"At the time he thought the abuse didn't affect him at all but now, with the benefit of reflection, clearly it did and he accepts it is a factor in the offending.

"He doesn't justify the behaviour, it doesn't fully explain it, but it's not a coincidence at the very least that someone who has had to deal with what he has had to deal with is now before the courts."

Mr Lubner added that Royle suffered from numerous health conditions, including lung cancer and chronic kidney disease, and having been recalled to prison following his arrest had been teaching English and math to other inmates, as well as becoming a career advisor.

Deputy circuit judge, Judge Charles Macdonald KC said he had taken Royle's own abuse, poor health and "model prisoner" status into consideration.

But on jailing him for two years and four months, the judge remarked: "He is a prolific breach and image offender."

Royle was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a SHPO for 10 years.