A convicted sex offender has admitted having child abuse images in his cell at a Devon prison.
Ian Mitchell was found with the pictures in a bag when his cell at Channings Wood Jail near Newton Abbot was searched in January.
The search was carried out just days before he was due to be released from a 40-month sentence for distributing similar material.
It uncovered 18 images which showed naked children and were described as pseudo photographs. They were all at the lowest category, which shows posing rather than sexual activity.
He was rearrested as he was being let out of the prison and appeared at Exeter Crown Court by video link from the city’s prison.
Mitchell, aged 55, who had been due to move to a post-release hostel in Swansea, admitted making indecent photographs of children.
Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC, adjourned his case for a probation report and remanded him in custody.
Mr William Hunter, prosecuting, said Mitchell was serving a sentence of 40 months imposed in 2015 for distributing images when the items were found in his cell on January 28.
Mr Martin Salloway, mitigating, said: ’His instructions to me are that he very much needs help. His aged mother is 88 and unless he gets to grips with this he is unlikely to see her alive again.
He was arrested at the gate of the prison on the day he was released. The pictures had been found in a bag in his cell some time before.
’To his credit he says he wants help and being in prison with like minded people is not getting him anywhere.’