A BLAENAVON man who had hundreds of pictures and videos of child abuse images – including a "very distressing" video involving an 18-month-old baby – has been given a suspended sentence.

Jason Rogers, 38 of Blorenge Terrace, Blaenavon, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent images of children and one count of possessing ‘extreme pornographic images’ involving animals.

He appeared before Recorder Carl Harrison at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday, February 25, where he admitted the charges.

Marian Lewis, prosecuting, said that the defendant had 249 category A images - the most serious category - and videos of children aged between two and 14 years old. One of the videos involved an 18-month-old baby, which a police officer described as "very distressing".

Rogers also had 68 images or videos which fell into category B, and 87 in category C, along with 12 images involving animals.

Ms Lewis said police officers had visited the home he shared with his mother on August 20, 2020, to conduct a search for indecent images.

“When asked by the officers where the images were, he told them they were on a thumb drive,” she said.

She also said how he told police that he had been sent the images and videos through a file sharing group and he was saving them to give to the police, but he had never reported them.

Rogers later changed this story and admitted he did not save them to give to the police and accepted full responsibility.

The prosecution said that some of the pictures and images were up to 10 years old but it was not clear how long they were in the defendant's possession.

Stephen Thomas, defending, told the court Rogers fully understood what he did and has no previous convictions. He told the court that his client had suffered mental health issues.

Rogers was given a 12-month prison sentence for the category A images, 20 weeks for the category B images, and 14 weeks for the category C images, as well as a further eight-week sentence was given for the possession of the animal images, all to run concurrently.

All four sentences were suspended for two years, and Rogers is also required to complete a 45-day rehabilitation activity and pay £500 costs and £156 surcharge. He must also sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and is subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.