A senior council education officer, caught with thousands of child sex abuse images on his computer, has been jailed for 12 months.

Dean Waller’s dark secret was revealed through a police operation in Germany that showed he had been using an internet forum to download the images.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that the 34-year-old, who was employed as a pupil services manager at Medway Council, had accumulated over 4,000 pictures and video clips, 10 of which were at the worst level of five.

Married Waller, of Maryland Road, Tunbridge Wells, admitted 10 charges of making indecent images of a child, some of whom were as young as five.

His lawyer submitted that he could walk free under a suspended sentence order, but Judge Martin Joy said the offences were so serious there had to be immediate custody.

Waller, who said his interest was in boys and girls aged 13 to 16, was banned from working with children and will remain on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.