A registered sex offender from Bexley who was found with indecent images of children as young as 10 has been jailed.

James Bainbridge, 26, of Hartslock Drive, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, January 26.

He pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order, one count of distributing an indecent image of a child and one count of making an indecent image of a child.

Bainbridge was previously given a two-year suspended prison sentence in October 2020, after he attempted to meet a teenage girl he had been speaking to online.

As part of the sentence, he was also given an order which restricted his use of technology and stopped him from having unsupervised access to children.

On July 6 2021, officers from a specialist unit responsible for monitoring registered sex offenders in Bexley were made aware of suspicious activity on a tablet belonging to Bainbridge.

They visited his home and found evidence that Bainbridge had breached his sexual harm prevention order. He was arrested and the device was seized.

A forensic examination revealed Bainbridge had used the tablet to view indecent images of children as young as 10.

Police Constable Jemma Morgan, from the Met's South East Jigsaw Unit, said: "Bainbridge was being closely monitored by officers due to previous offending and it was through this monitoring that this offending came to light.

“This type of crime is completely unacceptable and we take strong action when we receive reports of this nature, to protect children and young people from harm.”

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