'Key fob' paedophile jailed

A paedophile has been jailed after being caught when police found him carrying two key fobs with pictures of young boys on them.

Damien Thorne, a former karate teacher from Hastings, had downloaded more than 150 indecent images of children.

The 48-year-old was stopped and searched while riding his bike in September last year, Hove Crown Court heard.

He was jailed for 18 months on Tuesday for making an indecent image and the court heard he had previous convictions for sex attacks on boys.

Thorne, from Chapel Park Road in Hastings, had been riding his push bike along Carlisle Parade in the town late at night when he flashed a light in a police officers face and was stopped, the court heard.

Previous convictions

After finding the key fobs on Thorne, officers carried out a search of his flat and found the indecent images.

Thorne pleaded guilty to 14 counts of making an indecent image and asked for 145 more offences to be taken into consideration.

The court heard he had previously been jailed for sex attacks on boys in Eastbourne, Crawley and London and had a total of 21 previous convictions.

As well as being jailed Thorne was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years and banned from owning or using any computer equipment.