A FORMER Newport social club secretary who had more than 700 indecent images of children at his home has been jailed for 12 months.

James Evans, 57, gave no reaction as Judge Roderick Denyer passed his sentence at Newport crown court yesterday .

Evans, who used to live in Bettws, pleaded guilty to six charges of possessing a total of 716 indecent images of children at an earlier hearing.

The first five counts related to 28 level four images, with level five being the most serious. The others related to level one and two images.

Meirion Davies, prosecuting, said: "He tried to argue that the people in the pictures were over 16 but that is not accepted by the police.

"He accepted the images must be his but he could not account for them."

Mr Davies said police found the images at the former Bettws Social Club secretary's home on CDs and on his computer.

He said Evans had a previous conviction for indecent assault on a male dating back to 1979.

Andrew Jones, defending, said there was no distribution of the indecent images involved.

He said Evans was assessed as having a low risk of re-offending.

For each of the first five charges, Evans was sentenced to 12 months and for the less serious images he was jailed for six months.

All sentences are to run concurrently with each other, making a total of 12 months custody.

Judge Denyer ordered Evans , of the Hollybush Estate, Whitchurch, Cardiff, to register as a sex offender for 10 years and banned him from working with children for life.

Gary Probert, of Gwent Police's computer crime unit, said after the court hearing: "People who possess this material are contributing to child abuse by their demand for it.

"The sentence sends out the message the court will deal with those in possession of these images."

Bettws councillor Noel Trigg said Evans had resigned as social club secretary as soon as the matters came to light.

Mr Trigg said: "He was well respected at the club and was always polite.