A TEENAGER appeared in court the day after collecting his exam results to be sentenced for downloading more than 100 indecent images of children.

Darran Roche, of Lilian Grove, Ebbw Vale appeared in Newport Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children - some as young as four.

Gwent Police found the images after searching the 18-year-old’s home and seizing several items including a mobile phone.

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, said there were around 204 images recovered including eight videos - two of which were category B and six category C.

Of the 196 images recovered, two were in the most serious category (A), six were category B and 160 were category C.

The court heard that when arrested, Roche said he didn’t know why he saved the images and “stumbled across them” when he was aged between 15 and 16.

Girls portrayed in category B videos were aged between 10 and 12 while two of the category C images showed children aged between four and six years old.

When interviewed by police, the teen added that he searched “legal sites which branched off to illegal sites” and when downloading them, “they made him sick”.

Mr Gobir added: “He admitted he has been doing this (downloading indecent images) since he was 15/16 and that he needs help for it."

Marian Lewis, defending, said that there was no indication that Roche had contacted, or tried to contact, children and that he was “frank” with police officers when interviewed.

She added a pre-sentence report said Roche was “insightful” into his behaviour and “wants help to make sure that this sort of thing never happens again”.

She added that he had the results of exams on Thursday, August 17, has an ambition to go to University and requested his early guilty plea be taken into account.

Ms Lewis also invited the court to help Roche “turn his life around and make something of himself and put this matter behind him ultimately.”

Judge Tom Crowther QC noted there were no category A films and added that the defendant was “very young and, to a degree, immature”.

He added that rehabilitation was “particularly important in cases of this sort” and sentenced Roche to a two-year community order and 30 days of rehabilitation. He will also be on the sex offenders register for five years.