A PAEDOPHILE who squandered a second chance by downloading hundreds of images of young children has been jailed for 12 months.

David Moore, of Mandarin Drive, Newbury, was previously given a suspended sentence for possessing indecent images of children and undertook therapy to battle his 'chronic' and 'calculated' offending.

Reading Crown Court heard how the 66-year-old started to fall into old habits at the end of 2016, five years after his previous offending.

He was caught with 2,131 images, nearly 500 of the most serious nature, including images portraying an animal engaged in oral sex.

James Batten, prosecuting, said: "The images described were all inaccessible. However, I would ask you to consider the age and vulnerability of the children involved.

"There is also the pain and distress that this will no doubt have caused."

Judge Simon Oliver was urged to suspend any term of imprisonment in order to give Moore the opportunity to seek help.

After hearing representations from the Probation Service and Moore's defence solicitor, Nadia Chbat, the judge was not convinced.

He added: "This was not a question of accidentally downloading images. It suggests to me that this was a much more calculated approach to avoid getting caught.

"Your behaviour was chronic. You had therapeutic input. How can I be convinced that therapy is the answer this time?

"It seems to me that you have had your chance and you have not taken advantage of it. You have failed to take advantage and learn your lesson."

Moore admitted to three charges of possessing indecent images, one count of possessing a prohibited, one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image and one count of publishing an obscene article.

He was sentenced to 12 months and will serve half of his sentence on licence. A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made for 10 years and the judge ordered for the forfeiture and destruction of the images.

The defence argued that he would not be able to access the necessary rehabilitation programmes if he served a term of imprisonment and insisted that Moore had the full support of his family.