A persistent paedophile living close to a borough school has been jailed after police found child pornography on his home computer.

Jonathan Button, of Christchurch Road, East Sheen, was handed a 12-month sentence at Kingston Crown Court on Friday after admitting at an earlier hearing 10 specimen counts of possessing indecent pictures of young boys.

Prosecutor Boeung Jun told the court police raided the former teacher's home just yards from Sheen Mount Primary in January.

The move came after police were informed Button had made reference to "taking pictures" in letters written to jailed paedophile Trevor Watson under the pen name of Aunt Maude.

More than 1,000 thumbnail images of children in "erotic poses" and 31 images of children engaging in indecent acts were found, despite the fact that Button, 51, was running software to automatically delete downloads.

The court heard that Button had been previously convicted of importing child pornography in 1999. Later that year, he was jailed for 15 months after he admitted indecently assaulting boys in his flat whilst a science teacher at a private school in Berkshire during the 1980s.

Sasha Wass, defending, said that Button was a "reformed character" and had not committed any further offences since purchasing the images over the internet in 2001.

The court also heard Button resigned from his job selling tickets at Ham House following his arrest. Letters vouching for Button's "warm and generous" character were presented to the judge from former Ham House colleagues and his doctor.

Ms Wass told the court that Button had been abused by his choirmaster while a pupil at Colet Court in Barnes - something which had "a huge effect on his future conduct".

She added that Button had written the letters "full of gay banter" to Watson because he was a "compassionate person knowing the difficulties a vulnerable person had in prison" and that the pictures referred to were holiday snaps taken in Cuba and did not show children.

But Judge Matthews QC rejected the claim and said the letters "referred obliquely to photographs of children" and that they contained "coded language". She said that Button had engaged in a "pattern of behaviour" and posed a "significant risk to the public".

Handing down 12 months in prison for each of the ten specimen counts to be served concurrently, she added: "You must understand that the subjects of the images have been degraded and harmed by what has occurred - behaviour of this nature cannot be tolerated in a civilised society."

Following his release from prison Button will remain on licence for an extended period of three years. He will remain on the sex offenders' register for life.