A sex offender who shared child abuse images with others on the internet has been jailed – after he was caught keeping online secrets from police.

Christopher Clark was locked up for hoarding and sharing the sick photos – and had more time added to his sentence after he admitted breaching the rules for sex offenders.

The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing the indecent images of children at his then home address in Cocklebie Road, Stewarton between February 2 and April 18, 2022.

Clark, who was described in court documents as most recently living in School Street in Cambuslang, also admitted distributing the vile pictures for other paedophiles between Marh 2 and April 13 that same year.

Not guilty pleas to two further charges – one of creating the images, and one of possessing a further image depicting an extreme form of pornography – were accepted by prosecutors.

Clark, who was placed on the sex offenders register after his initial court appearance last year, committed a further offence when he failed to comply with the rules around notifying police of his online activity.

Clark pleaded guilty to using the names ‘Ayrshirelad’ and ‘Ayrshirelad22’ online and failing to tell police he’d done so within three days.

He was jailed for 18 months on the charges of possessing and sharing the images, with the sentences to be served concurrently – and was also hit with a further four-month sentence for the sex offender rule breach.

Clark, who was represented by solicitor Brian Holliman, was also told that he will remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years.