A sex offender who was caught distributing images of children being raped has again been spared jail.

James Haimes was put on a community order in 2012 after he admitted sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

Now the 25-year-old has been found with indecent images of children, some of which he took and others he shared online, on his computer.

But after hearing he was sorry for what he had done, and was prepared to go on a sex offenders treatment programme, a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

Haimes not only downloaded the images to his computer but allowed other users to access them via peer to peer sharing software, Swindon Crown Court was told.

And when his computers were examined he was also found to have a series of indecent movies of a teenage girl which he had taken.

Haimes, of Coventry Close, Wroughton, admitted three counts of making, one of distributing and one of taking indecent images of children as well as one of having extreme pornography.

He had 13 images in the worst category which he distributed between October 2010 and October 2015 and he took four movies of a child in 2015 or 2016

Richard Williams, defending, said that while the movies had been distributed they were unviewable files.

He said that his client, who has worked full time as a chef for five years, is extremely ashamed of his behaviour and had indicated that he wanted help to 'get normal'.

Passing sentence Judge Tim Mousley QC said "The nature of this material, albeit the quantity was not as great as other cases that come before the court, and the extent of your offending in relation to your offending to children means that the appropriate sentence is one of custody.

"Many of those images involved penetrative sexual activity and many of the children were very young and the children were victims of sexual abuse.

"Your previous conviction was a serious matter as well and the fact that the images that you too showed someone that was known to you and that many of those images taken together with moving images are all aggravating features.

"I take into account what is said about you in the presentence report. I take into account that there are clear signs now that you are prepared to take steps to address your behaviour and there is a degree of remorse as well."

Explaining why he could suspend he sentence he said "One of the reasons is you are showing willingness to comply with the Thames Valley Sex Offender Programme. If you do not you will be back before this court and you will be going to prison."

He imposed a 20 month jail term suspended for 18 months and told him to complete the Thames Valley Sex Offender Programme.

Haimes must also complete 40 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and abide by a sexual harm prevention order and register as a sex offender for 10 years.

He was put on the community order for grabbing at a 16-year-old girl and pulling at her underwear during a prolonged incident, when he was 20 years old.