A DETECTIVE who helped put Southend paedophile, Matthew Toms, behind bars warned other sexual offenders they will feel uneasy should they get a knock on the door from police.

Detective Hutchinson stated Toms is "clearly a danger to children and poses a risk to their safety".

Matthew Toms had been released on bail after trying to coax two teenage girls who knew through a friend into sending indecent images while posing as a teenage boy, when officers knocked on his door to check he was abiding by a sexual harm prevention order.

During this visit Toms confessed to officers he a hard driven hidden in his bedroom which contained 8,000 indecent images and videos of children and he was further arrested.

>>> Read more: Paedophile, 41, posed as 14-year-old boy to ask teens for topless photos

When these images and videos were analysed, it was discovered that he taken some of them himself.

Detective Inspector Nathan Hutchinson, from the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders (MOSOVO) team, said: “Matthew Toms is clearly a danger to children and poses a risk to their safety.

“He continued offending despite his arrest and it was some good work by my team which ensured that offending was detected.

“His conviction and sentencing is the result of some excellent team work from the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team and Southend CID.

“Each team worked on a different aspect of this investigation and worked to put together a case which left Toms with no option but to admit his guilt.

“It is team work like this which means that no paedophile or sexual offender can feel secure from a knock on the door from Essex Police.”

The 41 year-old was charged with voyeurism, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making indecent images of children, engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a child, and engaging in sexual communication with a child.

He admitted the offences and at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday 22 July he was jailed for six years with a further five on licence.

He was also made subject of a lifetime SHPO.