A mum-of-one has admitted possessing extreme pornography and vile sex images of children.

Samantha Rayson pleaded guilty to six charges - including having hundreds of illegal pictures.

The 41-year-old was remanded on bail until her sentencing hearing next month.

Prosecutor Paul Valder told Canterbury Crown Court police officers went to her home after being alerted to a “dropbox” account linked to a user at Hotmail.

Rayson appeared tearful as she pleaded guilty to possessing an extreme pornographic image on August 16 last year which was “grossly offensive” and involved an animal.

She also admitted possessing three movies involving child sex of the worst category, and four at the next level B.

Police also discovered 145 images of the worst level, 256 at Level B and 272 at Level C on her computer.

Judge James O’Mahony asked her lawyer Kerry Waitt why her client had the illegal images and he replied Rayson, of New Ash Street, Ash, had been into online chatrooms because of her own experiences as a child and later as an adult.

Sentencing was adjourned for a full probation report on the offences which were committed while she was subject to a community order for shoplifting in 2015.

In October 2011, Rayson had appeared before Folkestone magistrates and admitted sneaking out of Sainsbury in Deal with £250 worth of shopping

The court was told how she was spotted by a security guard at the store "acting suspiciously" circling the flower section near the exit.

"The security guard thought she was trying to leave without paying but she could see he was watching her," said Neil Sweeney, prosecuting.

"She went to the loo and the security guard hid and when she returned she wheeled the trolley out of the store."

At first she told police she was going to pay and had just gone outside to make a mobile phone call where the reception was better.

Later she said she was going to her car to get her purse.

Mr Waitt said his client, who had a similar conviction 10 years ago, was not stealing food for gain, but because she needed to feed herself and her son.

"She is a single parent trying to make her way in difficult circumstances," he said.

“She went into the store intending to pay. She has a 14-year-old son who suffers Asperger's."

He told the court his client had a degree in bio-chemistry and had worked as a quantity surveyor until 2007 when she had lost her job and she has £1,200 on credit card and a £5,000 overdraft.