A NEWPORT man who had hundreds of child abuse images on his computer, some showing children as young as four years old, was jailed for 12 months.

Father-of-one Andrew Bates, 41, admitted having 340 images, including videos, of the most serious category A and hundreds classified in categories B and C.

Bates, of Somerset Road, admitted the pictures were his when police officers visited his home on March 22 and found them on a Samsung laptop computer.

At Newport Crown Court on Friday he pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing indecent images of children which fell into category A, another of keeping images in category B and a third charge of possessing others that fell into category C.

There were shrieks from the public gallery when prosecutor Jason Howells announced the volume of images Bates had stored on his machine.

Bates, who wore a blue jumper at his sentencing, had a further 211 category B images and videos and 108 that fell into category C.

Defending Bates, Gareth Williams said Bates had “great shame in relation to this conviction” and said that six weeks spent in prison had already been a “shock to the system”.

Sentencing him, Judge Daniel Williams said: “Behind the photographs is a real child and a real crime. The suffering of the children could only be greater by them knowing that their abuse has been watched by you for your own sexual gratification.”

Bates was given a 12-month sentence for possessing category A images and videos. He was also handed a further six months, to be served concurrently, for the category B images and movies, and another three months for the category C pictures and videos. That will also be served concurrently.

He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order, under which he is barred from living with any child unless their parent or guardian has knowledge of his crimes. He will also be included on the sexual offenders' register.