A convicted paedophile who was caught with child porn on his computer less than a year after he was released from jail has had his latest sentence slashed.

Edward Wheller, 69, formerly of High Wycombe, was convicted of five rapes in 2009, but released on licence in 2016 and re-started his life in County Durham.

But within months, he was caught with hundreds of indecent images of children when police carried out a routine check at his home near Bishop Auckland.

On a laptop computer at the property in Jackson Street, Coundon, they found more than 250 images, some of them depicting real child abuse.

Wheller said he had searched for the material online and, although he understood the damage to the children, his own needs were more important to him.

He admitted four offences and was jailed for two years and eight months, with a six-year extended licence period, at Durham Crown Court in November.

But today, after an appeal by his lawyers, three senior judges in London slashed Wheller's "excessive" sentence.

His prison term was cut to two years and the extended licence was quashed entirely.

Judge Patrick Field QC said other restrictions on Wheller, imposed as part of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), would be enough to protect the public.

"We do not underestimate the very worrying aspects of this case and the unpleasant nature of his recent offending," said the judge.

"But we have concluded that an extended sentence was not appropriate in this case."

The "restrictions and safeguards" of the SHPO and the fact Wheller is elderly and unlikely to come into contact with children reduces the risk he poses, he said.

He concluded: "We allow this appeal, quash the sentence and replace it with a sentence of two years' imprisonment."