Damon Taylor, 33, of Carlton Road, also entered guilty pleas to nine charges of making indecent material by downloading it, one global charge of possessing such material and four charges of distributing it to other internet users.

Taylor contacted local schoolgirls through chat rooms and using a webcam to send indecent pictures of himself to a 12-year-old, suggesting that they meet up.

The police raided his home and arrested Taylor in September 2008 after being tipped off by a child exploitation body that a computer at the address was being used to contact youngsters.

Officers discovered 23 still photographs and 10 movies on his computer containing pornographic material involving children and young women.

While Taylor was on bail waiting to appear at York Crown Court he contacted a Scarbor-ough schoolgirl and purported to be a 15-year-old female called Lexi.

When the girl realised her on-line "friend" was a man, she told a schoolmate and this led to a teacher being informed and the police contacted.

A second search of Taylor's home then revealed a further computer, this time containing 501 pornographic images and 90 movie clips, a total of 88 pieces of the material having being distributed by him.

York Crown Court heard that Taylor had admitted a charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, 20 specimen offences of possessing indecent images and nine examples of distribution of the material.

Presenting the court with both a psychiatric and pre-sentence report, Simon Revell, mitigating, said that the "unpleasant" offending had been as a result of his client being "inadequate" and also suffering from a number of problems throughout his life. He added: "He has struggled in all sorts of ways and found some sort of solace and refuge in this pornography."

Mr Revell asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence so that Taylor could receive appropriate treatments from the probation service.

However, Judge John Swanson said that only prison was appropriate and jailed Taylor for 18 months.

He also placed him under a 10- year Sexual Offences Prevention Order, which will restrict his use of computers, and both a requirement to be on the Sexual Offenders Register and an indefinite disqualification from working with children.