A convicted sex offender has narrowly avoided an immediate prison sentence after he was again caught with images of children being sexually abused.

Mark Jackson was arrested after police officers found the disturbing images on two mobile phones during a routine check of the pervert’s digital devices.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 38-year-old had a number of previous convictions for child sex offences and was being monitored by Durham Constabulary at the time of his arrest.

A forensic search of Jackson’s mobile phones showed that he had downloaded 50 images including some in Category A – the most serious offence.

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Jackson, of Lodge Street, Darlington, pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images of children in Categories A, B, and C, following his arrest in December 2021.

The court heard how the defendant was last before the court in 2016 for similar offences. On that occasion, he was jailed for a year after he posed as a mother in online chats with a paedophile and offered to provide indecent pictures of his fictional son.

Jackson was already subject to the conditions of sexual harm prevention order and was signing on the sex offenders’ register at the time of his latest offence.

James Fenny, mitigating, said: “He has been out of court for seven years and he has cooperated with his public protection officer for the last two years.

“He accepts that he downloaded the images in October 2021 and he was caught in December 2021. He said he deleted the images but they have not been permanently deleted because the images last forever.

“There has been a two-year period of time where he has been subject to police checks without any further problems.”

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Judge Howard Crowson sentenced Jackson to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He said: “In December 2021 police seized two mobile phones from you and found a number of deleted files containing indecent images of children.

“You have previous similar offences on your record. You are regarded as a high risk offender but you are well monitored by Durham Constabulary.”

Jackson was also issued with an updated indefinite sexual harm prevention order.