A police raid on the home of convicted sex offender Daniel Smith uncovered nearly 100 indecent images of children, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Smith, 34, of Catkin Close, Quedgeley, admitted possessing the images which were categorised as a mix of level 1 - the least serious - with one at level three and a montage of eight images at level 4 – the most serious but one.

The court was told that police raided his home on February 27 this year and found the images on computer disks.

He declined to comment during interview.

Smith has been registered as a sex offender since 2001 when he was convicted in Maidstone, Kent, for an indecent assault on a girl under 16 and sentenced to three years in prison.

Steve Young, defending, said the number of images seized were ‘relatively low’ in light of a recent case before the court involved 25,000 indecent images.

He added that there was no suggestion that anyone else had seen the images or that Smith had distributed them in any way.

Judge Euan Ambrose said there was ‘no quick fix’ for Smith's problems but added that they would be best addressed by a community order rather than a suspended or custodial sentence.

He imposed a community order for three years with the conditions that he be supervised for the entirety of the order and he attends 70 sessions of a sexual offenders' programme.

"Be under no illusion," warned Judge Ambrose.

"If you do not co-operate fully with this order you will come back before this court and you can expect to go to prison."

He also imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order on Smith that restricted his use of the internet, barred him from living in a house with children and prevented him from taking pictures of children.

The forfeiture and destruction of Smith's laptop computer and the discs were also ordered and he was told to pay prosecution costs of £330.