A fantasist paedophile who tried to blackmail other men on depraved file-sharing internet sites has been jailed for 27 months and recalled to prison on a life licence.

Naveed Ahmed had been freed from a 20 year jail sentence for only two months when he viewed and distributed vile images of young children being raped, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Ahmed, 40, of Mannheim Road, Manningham, Bradford, was given a life sentence in 2000 for arson with intent to endanger life, prosecutor Rebecca Young said.

He was released in February last year and by April he was viewing the images and making sick boasts on chat sites that he was abusing children himself.

He was arrested after his Facebook account was closed when he uploaded a Category A indecent image of a child on to it.

On June 5, the police went to his home and seized his phone containing two child rape movies and third indecent image.

Ahmed pleaded guilty to making three Category A indecent images of children and distributing a Category A image, between April and May last year.

Miss Young said there were 269 participants in the online paedophile group that Ahmed had joined.

He claimed to other like-minded deviants that he was himself abusing children but the tales were groundless fantasy, the court was told.

The day before his arrest, Ahmed tried to blackmail another man on the group, demanding £5,000 not to expose his paedophilia.

He was never charged with the offence and told the police he had turned to extortion because he needed money to feed his crack cocaine habit.

The court heard that Ahmed had been recalled to prison on a life licence.

In February, 2000, he was convicted of burglary and arson with intent to endanger life committed in December, 1998.

Miss Young said he ransacked a house and set three separate fires in it. Although the minimum term he had to spend behind bars was short, he was not released for 20 years because the Parole Board did not think it was safe to do so.

Derek Duffy, Ahmed’s barrister, said he had fantasied about abusing children but it wasn’t true.

He accepted that he had looked at all sorts of stuff on the internet but denied having any sexual interest in children.

Judge Jonathan Rose, who was provided with probation and psychiatric reports, said it was a complex case.

Ahmed had watched degrading and depraved videos and shared vile movies of children being raped. He was a fantasist who posed a danger to children.

“It’s a darkness of mind that is deeply, deeply worrying,” Judge Rose said.

The offences were committed just two months after The Parole Board had deemed it safe to release Ahmed after he had spent 20 years behind bars.

He would not be freed until it was again ruled that he was not a public danger.

Judge Rose made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to protect children from Ahmed and he must sign on the sex offender register, both orders are for ten years.