A former police officer previously jailed for distributing illegal images of abused children has been given a new jail term for similar offences.

David Robinson, 56, was first convicted in 2015 when his “sickening” online chat with other pedophiles – which included offering to buy a child online to abuse them – was discovered.

He was released in October 2020 but police discovered new content on his mobile phone during a visit to his home in Carlisle, Cumbria.

Imposing a 40-month sentence, Judge Nicholas Barker said Robinson had deleted the messages because they were “sexual and indecent” and related to child abuse.

Robinson had worked as ‘front desk’ staff for the force, as the first point of contact for people visiting a police station.

New content later discovered on his phone by police included indecent images of children, some of the most serious Category A, and WhatsApp chats with other men.

But some messages and call logs were deleted and this “frustrated police attempts to see the history of those conversations”, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told Carlisle Crown Court on Friday.

Robinson had also activated a “disappearing messages” feature on the messaging app.

This, along with deleting the chat, breached a sex offender prevention order (SOPO) imposed as part of his 2015 sentence to restrict his online use, the court heard.

Robinson admitted nine offenses of breaching the SOPO, making indecent photographs of children and possessing extreme pornographic images.

He must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years with a new and indefinite restraining order.

“I am satisfied that the reason you deleted the messages was because the context of those messages was of a sexual and indecent nature relating to the sexual abuse of children,” Judge Barker said.

He also said Robinson, of Garfield Street, should be considered a dangerous offender and imposed an extended license period of three years as a result.

During Robinson’s previous offending, while offering to buy a child online, he decorated a room in his home for a young man and applied to be the boys’ foster carer.

The sentencing judge at the time said Robinson “presented a face to the outside world, another deeply unattractive one online”.