A COURIER who used file sharing software for years as he trawled the internet for sexual images of children has been jailed.

Paul Andrew Holme, 52, used computer wiping software to remove traces of his activities on his own equipment.

He also used the Tor browser to prevent the authorities discovering what he was doing, said Andrew Finlay, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

But North Yorkshire Police was tipped-off about Holme’s activities and raided his York home on May 22, 2018.

They found 42 images on his 14 computer devices of which only three were of the worst category.

They also found evidence he had used peer to peer software more than 160 times over eight years with files whose names suggested they were sexual images of children.

The software enabled Holme and other users to share files directly with each other.

The 52-year-old, now of Skinner Lane, Pontefract, pleaded guilty to three charges of having indecent images of children.

He had been convicted of similar offences in 2003.

“You seem to be determined to seek out this kind of material,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told him.

“A suspended sentence is out of the question.”