A PONTYPOOL man who had more than 100 indecent images on his laptop including some of children in swimwear has been given a community order.

Jamie Wilkins, aged 26, of Golf Road, New Inn, Pontypool, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Friday for two counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possession of indecent images of children and one count of possession of extreme pornographic images.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

Nigel Fryer, prosecuting, told the court that Wilkins came to the attention of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) who then contacted Gwent Police.

The IP address from July 11, of last year, was linked to a property in Pontypool. Police obtained a warrant for the address but the defendant had already moved out of the property.

Further enquiries were made to locate Wilkins and he and his wife were arrested. Wilkins told police the black Samsung laptop had been taken to Cash Converters.

The laptop was seized from the store and the court heard that no one interfered with it in the time it was there. The laptop was analysed by an officer who found search terms relating to pre-teens and animals.

The police found on the laptop one category b image of a six-year-old child and 25 category C images of children from four to 14-years-old.

Police also found 71 images of bestiality including videos of adults engaging in sexual activity with horses, dogs, pigs and a goat.

Wilkins admitted to police that he looked at pornography using the search term 'barely legal' but said if he saw anything 'dodge' he clicked off the site. His wife was interviewed who said she had never viewed porn on the laptop.

Wilkins in a later police interview made a full admission that he was solely responsible.

Jeffrey Jones, defending, said: "This defendant was honest and told them where the laptop was at a cash generator."

Recorder Jonathan Furness QC sentenced Wilkins to a three year community order as part of which he will have to attend 35 sessions of a internet sex offender’s treatment programme.

He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Furness said: "If this should ever occur again you should expect a custodial sentence."