A JUDGE has said she was would be ‘doing a disservice to the public’ if she did not jail an Oxford man who 'persistently' downloaded indecent images of children.

Andrew Taylor appeared before Oxford Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to having two such images on December 16, 2018.

The 58-year-old, of Broome Place, was also before Judge Maria Lamb after admitting to breaching a sexual harm prevention order, imposed over similar offences in 2016.

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Prosecutor Edward Hollingsworth said the images had been discovered on his phone during a routine search of his electronic devices as part of the order.

As well as the two images, which featured young teenage boys, Taylor was also found to have been searching for 'young nudists' and 'pre-teen nudists'.

While on bail for the first offences, which he pleaded guilty to at Oxford Magistrates' Court on October 11, Mr Hollingsworth said during another routine search on December 2, Taylor was found to have breached the order by installing an app that deleted his search history.

In mitigation, defence barrister Gareth James, said Taylor had not searched for the two images but they had been inadvertently downloaded while visiting chat rooms which he admitted 'exposed him' to the risk.

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He added Taylor had initially downloaded the app as it was marketed as ‘making the phone work better’ only later discovering it had the second use.

Mr James recommended Taylor be placed on the Horizon sex offenders course as a way to break his 'persistent' reoffending.

Judge Lamb said Taylor 'knew perfectly well' he should not have the images and the app.

She cited the 'very recent' nature of the breach and said the offences were too serious for a suspended sentence.

Imposing a prison sentence of 28 months, she said: "I think I would be doing a disservice to the public if you were to have any other sentence."