A DEPRAVED chef has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for making and possessing thousands of obscene images of children after being trapped in a sting operation.

Paedophile Andrew Fitch, of Lyndhurst Gardens in Newbury Park, appeared at Southwark Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to five counts of making an indecent image of a child and possessing 2,212 indecent images of children.

The 35-year-old - who has been placed on the sex offenders register - was snared by a six-month covert police investigation after he tried to groom a 12-year-old girl for sex who was, in reality, an undercover journalist.

Fitch, who used the on-line screen name of Ffatboy110@aol.com, started talking to young Lucy' who clearly stated her age and gender but he started bombarding her with lurid messages of a sexual nature.

Communication between Fitch and Lucy' began via MSN online messenger and later developed into mobile phone text messages.

On March 22 last year officers from the Met's Paedophile Unit arrested Fitch and searched his home address where a computer tower containing 2,217 indecent images ranging from level one to the most serious level five were found.

Detective Constable Dave Adams from the Metropolitan Police Paedophile Unit said: "Mr Fitch had a large number of images in his possession that would be considered significantly offensive.

"The Met's Paedophile Unit is committed to protecting and safeguarding children and I would appeal to members of the public to contact police if they are aware of others who may be committing similar offences.

"Whenever we have intelligence to suggest that someone presents a danger to children we will act upon it and bring these people to justice."