A MAN who used a privacy app on his mobile phone to try to conceal indecent images of children stored on it has been jailed for 12 months.

A judge at York Crown Court said it was 'truly shocking' that some of the children in the pictures were as young as one year old and said David Stansfield had a 'vile addiction."

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, said Stansfield, 40, of Stirrup Close, Foxwood, had a previous conviction for identical offences at the court in 2012.

This had resulted in him being given a community order involving attending a sex offender programme and the latest offences were committed towards the end of that order.

The judge said the most serious aspect of these offences was that he used a "Private Album" app on his mobile to conceal his offending.

"This is an extremely aggravating feature because it indicates you have not really learnt at all from the earlier sentence," he said.

"Some of these victims were very young indeed. Some were only aged up to one year old which is truly shocking."

He said he gave credit for early guilty pleas from Stansfield to four charges of making indecent photos of a child and one of possession of prohibited images of children.

Rob Galley, prosecuting, said police had obtained a warrant and searched Stansfield's home and seized computer equipment, and they also seized a mobile phone from his car.

He said the phone app prevented anyone accessing the pictures without a password but an officer had located the password and been able to gain access.

Kristian Cavanagh said in mitigation that Stansfield was well aware of the impact of his offences on he victims and knew he had to take steps to address his offending behaviour.

He said Stansfield understood the triggers that led to him committing the offences, felt he had benefited from treatment programmes in the past and was willing to engage in another one.