An Otford man who claimed to be a paedophile hunter wept as he was jailed for sharing images of child sex abuse online.

Liam Shorter, 22, said he was trying to catch out abusers but never contacted police about suspicious activity. He later admitted to having a sexual interest in children.

He was arrested after officers raided his Willow Park home in July and found a laptop and tablet containing photographs and videos of child sexual abuse.

Shorter was charged with three counts of distributing indecent photos of children, seven counts of possessing indecent photos of children and one count of possessing an image portraying sex with an animal.

Pleading guilty to all offences at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday he was jailed for 16 months.

Prosecutor Ian Foinette said when asked what kind of photographs he wanted in online chats, Shorter replied: "Young."

He also asked for others to send him images of their family members being abused and gave advice on how to find and trade in child pornography.

"The Crown say he was well-versed in how to put up these images and trade them," said Mr Foinette.

Police found 55 indecent images on Shorter's laptop, 38 of which were at the highest level of seriousness.

"He later claimed he was acting as a vigilante but that is not something he continues to rely on," added Mr Foinette.

Shorter, a restaurant kitchen porter, also had an extreme pornographic image of sex with animals.

He wept as Judge Charles Macdonald QC jailed him and branded him a danger to the public.

It demonstrated a lack of remorse and insight, he said, that Shorter lied to a probation officer while awaiting sentence that he downloaded the images and swapped them in chatrooms to “catch out” others.

"You have adopted a number of positions about this offending which initially were wholly insightless, and even now you minimise the offending,” he said.

"I don't think you have come to terms with it and you are quite a danger."

Ben Irwin, defending, submitted a suspended sentence with a treatment programme condition could be imposed to “tackle the underlying offending of looking at the type of grotesque images that have been distributed”.

He added that Shorter had overcome a damaged and deprived childhood to build a career for himself.

Shorter’s name will appear on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. A sexual harm prevention order was made for the same period.

Det Con Jo Gordon, investigating officer, said: "The distribution of abuse images online creates a market for the abuse to occur in the first place, meaning offenders like Liam Shorter are partly responsible for the horrendous acts committed against innocent children.

"Anyone who suspects someone of being involved in this awful trade is urged to contact police on 101 so we can carry out a full and thorough investigation into their activities."