A ‘PROLIFIC paedophile’ has been locked up after a judge determined he had showed ‘a perverse interest in children’.

Roger Morris, of West Shore Park, Walney, was arrested by officers in an unannounced visit on December 28 last year for breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2016 after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children.

Prosecutor Daniel Bramhall said the defendant – aged 66 - had accessed the internet on an ASUS laptop without risk management software being installed, a provision which he was prohibited from doing as part of the SHPO order.

Mr Bramhall said officers seized the laptop from the sofa and then conducted a search of the defendant’s static caravan where they found a hard drive located in a kitchen drawer.

The court heard the devices were analysed by police and they found the hard drive to contain 17 category A indecent images of children (the worst of its kind), six category B images and three category C images.

They also found Morris had in his possession two images of extreme pornography relating to bestiality, as well as a further 71 prohibited images of children.

Mr Bramhall told Preston Crown Court the defendant had accrued four relevant previous convictions for 22 offences all relating to similar offences.

In mitigation, Claire Larton said Morris had been helping to train and mentor other prisoners in IT whilst he was in custody having been employed as a computer programmer and electrical engineer throughout his earlier career.

She added: “He is estranged from his wife and has no children. As a result, he is socially isolated which is often the case in this kind of offending.

“He has taken steps to address his alcohol dependency and expresses the desire to become abstinent upon his release.

“He knows a custodial sentence must be imposed today for his offending.”

Morris pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornography of dead or alive animals, possessing prohibited images of a child, as well as breaching his SHPO.

Sentencing Morris to 30 months imprisonment, His Honour Judge Darren Preston told the defendant: “You are a prolific paedophile who possesses a perverse interest in children.

“Real children get abused and raped in these images. They are often left with lifelong mental health issues and other issues.

“This was a quite deliberate breach of your SHPO which is seriously aggravated by your previous convictions.

“You just cannot stop yourself committing offences of this nature.