A "dangerous" Worcestershire predator who sexually abused a girl of four and filmed his "disgusting" acts is now behind bars.

Paedophile Matthew Churchill groomed and sexually assaulted the girl, but also had more than 3,000 indecent images of other children on various devices, some of the very worst kind of material.

The 32-year-old of Hanley Swan in the Malvern Hills district, admitted a string of offences – two sexual assaults on a child under 13 (one a specimen charge reflecting multiple acts of abuse), causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of making indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornography, possessing prohibited images of children and taking indecent images of a child.

He was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Jim Tindal at Worcester Crown Court, the defendant showing little emotion as he was led down the stairs from the dock to begin his sentence. Members of the victim's family looked on from inside the courtroom.

Fighting back tears, they had had, only minutes before, read out harrowing victim personal statements.

Tim Harrington, prosecuting, said the offending against the girl began in February 2012 when she was four years old. It involved touching her and Churchill getting her to touch him.

He also assaulted the same victim when she was aged 10 or 11.

His devices were searched which revealed 32 category A images of children (the most serious within the guidelines), 65 at category B and 229 at category C.

In total 269 extreme pornographic images were also discovered and 3,039 prohibited images of children.

The images were found across four different devices.

Churchill's abuse came to light in September, 2019 when the victim told her mother that Churchill would "hug her in a state of undress" when he was "naked from the waist down".

"Worrying and disturbing images" were then found as part of the subsequent police investigation, including a video of the victim being abused by Churchill when she was four, although she herself could not remember this film being taken.

The defendant was arrested. "Churchill was interviewed again. This time he said nothing," said Mr Harrington.

The children in the indecent images at category A were estimated to be between six and 12 years old.

Before Churchill was sentenced, victim personal statements were read out by family members.

Urging the judge to impose "the maximum sentence within your powers", one sibling said: "I am so angry and disgusted by what he did. He is a dangerous predator."

Frequently, staring across at the defendant in the dock and fighting back tears, she added: "It's my solemn wish he spends the rest of his life suffering."

Judge Jim Tindal, sentencing, said: "The conclusion I'm driven to is that you're just selfish; that you thought only about yourself and your own gratification and nothing about the child."

Churchill was told he can expect to serve half of the five year sentence in custody and the remaining half on licence in the community.

A sexual harm prevention order was made for 10 years, restricting Churchill's contact with children, male and female.

The order also aims to monitor and control his access to, and use of, internet-enabled devices.

He will also have to sign the sex offender register for life.

Before he was led away to begin his sentence, Judge Tindal told him: "You're going to prison for what will feel to you like a very long time.

"That will be wasted time unless you confront what you did. Hiding from what you did is cowardice and that makes the abuse worse."