A CONVICTED sexual deviant has been jailed after succumbing to his perverted predilections months after serving a suspended sentence for similar offences.

Jason Lee was caught with more than a hundred child sexual abuse videos and pictures on his laptop after police searched his device.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 42-year-old had downloaded software that enabled him to view the abuse through a peer-to-peer network.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said Lee had downloaded the footage between February 26 and March 5 last year just four months after his suspended sentence ended.

He said one of the films was compilation of sexually offending which lasted 30 minutes and involved 11 different children being abused.

"There were 118 images in all," he said. "The defendant admitted everything; he bought the laptop in February 2019, he had downloaded a specialist programme to access music and films but then moved onto indecent images."

Following Lee's arrest, he told police he 'struggled' to control his urges without the support of the probation service.

Lee, of Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to three charges of creating indecent images of children – 65 in category A, the most serious offence; 29 in category B and 24 in category C.

Paul Abrahams, mitigating, said his client's pre-sentence report highlighted Lee's dependence on the probation service to manage his sexual offending and had lapsed back into drug abuse.

"He entered his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and is entitled to full credit," he added. "He has never experienced custody before and then there is the delay in proceedings, these matters are from some time ago and have been in the system since early 2019.

"The defendant had been on bail for much of that time, he was only remanded in custody for failing to appear at court."

Judge Howard Crowson told Lee he considered him a dangerous offender who would benefit from extra support when released from custody.

He said: "The police found you had been using the device to search for indecent images between February 26 and March 5, it came just after your suspended sentence had expired.

"The one of them that was particularly disturbing to me was the one which lasted for 30 minutes; the children are all very young."

Judge Crowson jailed Lee for 12 months and ordered that he serve an extended period of licence for three years.

He added: "You spend far too much time on the internet looking for pornography. You have expressed an interest in teenage girls, underage girls. you do pose a high risk of causing harm to children."

Lee was also issued with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and notification requirement.