A mum-of-one, who admitted possessing extreme pornography and vile sex images of children, has been told by a judge: "You must stop...it will rot your brain".

Samantha Rayson had admitted six charges - including having hundreds of illegal pictures.

Kerry Waitt, defence lawyer for the 41-year-old said it was "an unusual and disturbing case".

He told Canterbury Crown Court: "It is very unusual for a woman to find herself in this kind of situation and that grave situation is not lost on her."

Mr Waitt added that Rayson, of New Ash Street, Ash, had been into online chatrooms because of her own experiences as a child and later as an adult.

But Judge James O’Mahony told her: "I don't have to test the reasons behind what you did.

"But you must stop it and stop putting yourself into the mire of dirty, sordid material."

"It is very unusual for a woman to find herself in this situation" - defence lawyer Kerry Waitt

Prosecutor Paul Valder had told how police officers had gone to her home after being alerted to a Dropbox account linked to an Internet user at Hotmail.

Rayson had 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.

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

She was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years and made subject to a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: "Regardless of her experiences, Rayson sought out these appalling images and helped fuel this dreadful online market.

"Behind each and every image serious abuse has occurred in the real world and children have been harmed. The knowledge that the image can be repeatedly viewed and may never be removed from the web can cause lasting trauma for victims, who will need a great deal of support to recover.

"To stem the tide of child abuse images online, the NSPCC is calling for web providers to do far more to prevent this sickening material from being available on their platforms."