A THRUXTON paedophile who distributed sick videos of child abuse hundreds of times has been jailed for two years.

Jeffrey Smith was given the sentence during a hearing at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday, February 23.

The 58-year-old pleaded guilty in January this year to four counts of having and distributing indecent pictures and films of children.

This included 104 films and nine images of category A, the most extreme category, 27 images of category B and 21 images of category C.

Smith also pleaded guilty to distributing three category A films of children 663 times.

The Thruxton resident was sentenced to two years imprisonment concurrently on all counts, had to sign the sex offender’s register for 10 years and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order.

Judge Jane Miller also ordered the two laptops to be forfeited and destroyed.

Smith was arrested on February 2 last year after police received information that he was using file sharing software.

Officers tracked the IP address, which linked to his home address.

A national children’s organisation has now issued a statement after hearing of Smith’s sentencing.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “By viewing and distributing images of children being sexually abused Smith has helped fuel the market for this vile trade.

“Behind each and every image, serious abuse has occurred in the real world and a child has been harmed.

“The knowledge that the image can be repeatedly viewed, and may never be removed from the web, contributes to the on-going trauma for the victim.

“This is an issue of considerable importance to the NSPCC, which is why we are calling on the Government to implement a tough action plan to cut off the supply of these images, deter people from viewing them in the first place, and therefore help prevent children being abused to satisfy this vile trade.”