A MAN from Dorset who sent indecent images to a child in America has been jailed for two years.

Martin Hunt, of Fairey Crescent in Gillingham, has already been convicted of offences involving indecent images of children.

But on July 6 2018 – just over a year after he was sentenced – police visited the 38-year-old's home after being told he was suspected of sending images to a young person in the USA.

Officers searched his property and found an iPhone hidden in his room.

When he was interviewed, Hunt admitted the officers would find indecent images of children on the device. He said he had used the phone for three years, but attempted to hide it because he didn't want his offender manager to find it.

He then admitted using the phone to chat to underage girls online and send them indecent images.

Police found he had more than 600 such images of children.

Indecent images are graded from category A to C, with A the most serious.

On Hunt’s iPhone officers found 82 still images and 63 moving images that were graded category A, 117 still and 27 moving images graded category B and 367 still images and 15 moving images of category C.

The defendant was handed a prison sentence after appearing for sentence at Bournemouth Crown Court. He admitted three offences of making indecent images of children and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Detective Constable Paul Williams, of Dorset Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: “Despite being the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for previous matters involving indecent images of children, Martin Hunt continued to offend and made efforts to conceal his behaviour.

“This kind of offending can have devastating and lifelong impact on the children involved and we are determined to identify those responsible in producing and sharing these images and bring them before the courts.”