A sex offender who was caught hiding an electronic tablet that had indecent images of boys during a police check has been jailed for 20 months.

Roy Boardman, of High Street, Wem, appeared in the dock to hear his sentence after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to making five category A - the highest level - images, one category B and 14 category C images between September 2019 and August 2021.

His Honour Judge David Hale told the pensioner that even at his age and poor health there was "no doubt" he would be sent to prison for the offences.

The judge said: "Since the age of 50 odd you have appeared before the court time and time again for offences of this nature. You know the rules.

"You failed to understand that even one image is one child somewhere being abused, not for your titillation.

"At 77 it can’t be any fun being in prison," he said before Broadman was led out of the dock to begin his prison sentence.

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Telford Justice Centre heard that Boardman's offending manager and a police officer went to his house on the morning of September 2, 2021, where a mobile phone was found under his pillow and searched by the police officer.

The court heard that it was "immediately apparent" Broadman was looking for sexual images of teenage boys on his phone. Broadman’s offending manager asked the 77-year-old "if he would ever learn".

Broadman then covered an Amazon tablet with a book and hid it under a table. Before he was arrested, he told his offending manager: "Not again, Keith, it's my birthday!"

An examination of the electronic tablet revealed that there was one accessible category A image, one category B, and 12 category C images, with four inaccessible category A and two category C images, which were "consistent" with Broadman's previous convictions targeting boys aged between 8 and 14.

The court was told the pictures appeared to have been photographed in 2020 from images on another electronic device.

During a police interview, Broadman claimed that he found the Amazon tablet in a box at his flat and the device already had images on it, which the prosecution said was "inconsistent" with an expert's findings.

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Alexandra Carrier, mitigating for Broadman, said: "It would be of benefit to this defendant and wider society to work with probation to address his offending rather than an immediate custodial sentence.

"He does have health concerns and is exacerbated and stressed by the proceedings. He is worried about losing his accommodation and possessions and that he will be unable to pay his debts while incarcerated."

Judge Hale gave Broadman credit for his early guilty plea before sentencing him to 20 months in prison and he must obey a sexual harm prevention order.