A married lorry driver who posed as a gay teenager to groom boys has been jailed for two years.

Ian West, 50, used his act to dupe vulnerable children into swapping naked images of themselves with him.

West, who was caught when an indecent picture of himself was found on a 14-year-old boy's phone, was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Perth Sheriff Court: "Albeit you are a first offender, these are serious offences. Over a two-year period you were involved in the preservation of indecent images of children on your devices.

"You communicated indecently with that young male by sending an indecent image and communicating with him using sexual language.

"Examination of his phone showed that over a ten-day period there were a considerable number of messages using sexual language, which mainly emanated from yourself.

"The victim's statement from the young male indicates that the effect the offence had on him has been significant."

The court was told West was discovered with hours of videos and numerous images of boys and had categorised them into individual folders for each boy.

The court also heard one boy had sent an image of himself in his school uniform to West, who he believed to be a boy of similar age to himself.

Fiscal depute Gavin Letford told the court: "He was married and resided with his wife in Perth. However, following his detection, he is no longer welcome at the matrimonial home."

Mr Letford said a 14-year-old boy from the Thames Valley police area led officers north of the border to West after his mother discovered an explicit photo on her son's mobile phone.

He said: "He had communicated on the KIK message service with an individual who pretended to be a similar age and pretended to be a homosexual schoolboy.

"The communications became sexual and they exchanged images. On October 4, 2014, the boy's mother got access to his phone and saw an image of a male which she believed to be an older man.

"Online subscription details led to West, and his family home in Crammond Place, Perth, was raided by the police. His unsuspecting wife was at home while West was stopped in his lorry later."

Some of the images found on West's phone showed boys as young as eight, the court heard.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: "He very much realises what he has done is wrong. He has never been in trouble before.

"He was working long hours and had time on his hands and became involved by putting his profile on Instagram. He was contacted by younger people and children.

"Over a period matters got out of hand. He perceived himself as someone who suffered from loneliness. There has been significant impact on his family."

West admitted causing a 14-year-old boy to look at an indecent image and engage in sexual conversation between September 26 and October 6, 2014.

He also admitted distributing child abuse on January 16, 2013, and having indecent images of children between January 16, 2013, and March 4 last year.