A BRIDGWATER man has been jailed for 12 months after a memory stick containing indecent images of children was found at his place of work.

James Launce, 34, of Stawell, hid the memory stick in a cabinet at the Hermes depot on the Huntworth Business Park in Bridgwater, where he worked as an operations manager.

The discovery found him in breach of a suspended sentence he received in 2012 after he was found guilty of possessing thousands of pornographic images of children.

Launce appeared at Truro Crown Court on October 10 where he was found guilty of 14 counts of possessing indecent images of children and sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison.

The court was told he had downloaded the images from a laptop that was later found at a property in Liskeard, Cornwall.

The former Royal Navy petty officer will also have to register as a sex offender for ten years.

A statement from Hermes said: “Throughout his employment with us Mr Launce consistently lied and concealed the truth about his previous conviction and this most recent charge.

“We are devastated that he was able to deceive us in this way.

We are currently briefing all our staff members at the depot and offering support to those who consider they have been adversely affected by this issue.

“We would like to reiterate that we are taking the matter very seriously and where lessons can be learned they will be acted upon immediately.”