A MAN kept and watched a film of a girl being raped after it “mistakenly” found itself among mass downloads of legal adult pornography from the internet.

Gareth Davies, 40, from Newport, stored the child abuse movie for a few days before deleting it in “disgust”, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Peter Donnison, prosecuting, said the police had raided the defendant’s home last summer.

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Officers recovered 10 indecent images of children and one image involving bestiality on two of the defendant’s electronic devices.

One of them was the three-minute video of the girl, who was aged between nine and 11, being raped.

Davies, of Somerton Road, admitted three counts of possession of an indecent image of a child and one charge of possession of an extreme pornographic image involving an animal.

The child abuse images were made up of seven category A images, one at category B and two at category C.

Ben Waters, representing Davies, said in mitigation how “appalled, disgusted and ashamed” the defendant was of his behaviour.

He added that his client was a man of previous good character with no convictions recorded against him.

The court was told that the defendant, who has a full-time job, had been assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending.

He was “capable of rehabilitation” and was working with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a child protection charity dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse.

The judge, Recorder Duncan Bould, told Davies: “Your basis of plea, which is accepted by the prosecution as I understand it, is that these images came into your possession as a result of you downloading other legal pornographic material and that these were images that you had not intentionally sought.

“But once downloaded however not only did you view but you kept the images for a relatively short period, three to four days, before you deleted them.

“Having been disgusted by what you saw, you did then delete them.

“I accept your remorse and your shame.”

The defendant was sentenced to a 24-month community order.

Davies was ordered to complete a 35-day rehabilitation activity requirement and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.

The defendant was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years and must register as a sex offender until 2027.

Davies must pay £420 towards the prosecution’s costs and a £95 victim surcharge.