A PRIVATE tutor has been jailed after he was caught with tens of thousands of indecent images.

Robert Mitchell, who 10 years ago was convicted of possessing 400,000 indecent images, was arrested after his partner, Denise Osman, became concerned when he told her about his previous crimes, Bolton Crown Court heard.

He told her he was sexually attracted to young girls aged 10 to 17.

She contacted the police after finding hundreds of discs containing indecent photographs and Mitchell, who is 48 today, fled. He was caught after he telephoned Ms Osman from Cumbria and she kept him talking until police arrived.

Police found 250,000 images Mitchell had stored at his home, business and at a storage unit in Radcliffe.

Some of the images were ones Mitchell had taken of a 17-year-old pupil.

Sentencing Mitchell, who had pleaded guilty to 13 counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing an indecent image of children, Judge Timothy Clayson expressed concern he had been able to continue working as a private tutor follow- ing his 2002 conviction.

Hanifa Patel, prosecuting, said, Mitchell, of Heatherfield, Sharples, had been and given a three-year community order following his 2002 conviction.

But when the order expired in 2007, Mitchell resumed tutoring pupils at their homes or his business in Higher Bridge Street.

Wayne Jackson, defending, said Mitchell did not present a significant risk to the public. He was jailed for four years, banned indefinitely from working with children and made the subject of a lifetime sexual offences prevention order.