A former Scout leader who was jailed after illegally filming and photographing children and adults "clearly had a sexual interest in juveniles", police have said.

Fifty-five-year-old Ian Butcher appeared at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, where he was jailed for 20 months for incidents relating to eight separate victims, six of whom were children.

Butcher, of Woodbridge Road East in Ipswich, was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

This places restrictions on his use of any computer or device capable of accessing the internet and the storing of digital images.

Several incidents involved filming children over the top of cubicle changing rooms and while taking a shower, with victims nude in numerous images.

While many victims are now known to the police, six remain unidentified.

Detective Constable Santiago Nield, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team at Suffolk police, said: "Ian Butcher was a person in a position of trust and in the majority of the cases we identified, his offences involved a clear abuse of that trust.

"The crimes we discovered took place over a period of almost two years, so his offending was persistent for a significant length of time.

"Although not all of the victims were children, the majority were and so he clearly had a sexual interest in juveniles.

"I want to thank all the victims who have worked with us for their bravery, especially as the fact that they had been victims of this type of offence would’ve come as a complete surprise to them and a very disturbing one at that.

"They all had their privacy violated, but in the case of the children also their trust and part of their childhoods too.

"I would also like to commend the bravery of the first girl who made contact with us, who was clearly crucial to his offending being uncovered. She hadn’t felt able to come forward at the time the incident occurred, as she had been so shocked and didn’t want to believe it had happened, but as she got older she became more confident in herself and her recollections.

"I would also like to thank the Scout Association, who cooperated with our investigation from the outset and assisted us with whatever we required from them.

"Hopefully this case demonstrates that we listen to and hear victims of these types of offences and will investigate allegations, taking swift action wherever possible."