Paedophile had 140 indecent child images on mobile

Courtney will stay on the sex offenders register until January 2031

A paedophile who had a mobile phone containing 140 indecent images of children has begun a 16-month jail term.

Police said Lee Courtney, 33, of North Brink, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, had thought he could "hide" the phone from them.

Courtney was jailed by a judge at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday after admitting a number of offences, a court official said.

He will remain on the sex offenders register until January 2031, police say.

Cambridgeshire Police said Courtney had been given a suspended prison sentence in January 2021, and placed on the sex offenders register, after being convicted of "making indecent images" of children.

They said officers suspected Courtney had not notified them of two email accounts and was in breach of sex offender register notification requirements.

Officers had travelled to arrest him in on 18 March - and found the mobile.

'Lesson'

Courtney had been sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on 20 June after admitting breaching a sexual harm prevention order, failing to comply with sex offender register notification requirements, and making indecent photographs of a child, the court officials said.

He would stay on the sex offenders register until January 2031 and be the subject of a sexual harm prevention order until January 2036, the official added.

“Despite having a suspended sentence and being aware of his sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements, Courtney reoffended and tried to lie about a mobile phone he thought he could hide from us," said PC Natasha Alwin.

“He clearly has not learnt his lesson."