A paedophile who had 43,000 indecent pictures of children has been locked up.

Lee Hughson, of Broadway, Sheerness, was jailed for two years at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday after admitting he had indecent images of children and animal porn alongside 650 videos on his two computers.

The 50-year-old plead guilty to six counts of making indecent photos of children, two charges of possessing prohibited photos of a child and one of owning extreme pornographic image of animals.

The sex offender was also charged with two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order which had been in place.

Hughson had photos from all three categories of images which rang from category A, the most serious kind, to category C, which are classed as extreme images.

They were found about two computers were seized from his home after a warrant was carried out by officers in January last year.

Investigating officer Amy Race, of Kent Police's paedophile online investigation team, said: "Hughson had a staggering amount of indecent images on his computer.

'His offending is exceptionally serious...'

"Although he did not commit any physical assaults on a child, his desire to access such images creates a demand that leads to children coming to serious harm.

"His offending is therefore exceptionally serious and could not go unchallenged. I am pleased that he has now been held to account and sincerely hope he changes his behaviour in the future."

Read more: All the latest news from Sheerness