A GWENT man was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after admitting to 16 counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Carl Jones, 53, from Gwent but of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the charges in October last year.

This was after more than 400 indecent images were found on his computer.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how seven of these images were categorised at level five - the most severe category on a sliding scale.

A total of 77 images were categorised at level four, 26 at level three, 18 at level two and 279 at level one.

Defending, Andrew Jones said Jones was of previous good character and was not involved in the production or distribution of any of the images.

Sentencing, judge William Gaskell described the images as “disgusting”.

He said: “You obtained sexual gratification from watching little children being abused by adults. You knew these children’s lives were being ruined.

“Children are abused because people like you like watching it. People look upon you with contempt and disgust.”

Jones, who has been in custody since October, was also given a five-year sexual offences prevention order.

He will not be allowed any contact with a child under 18 unless that child’s parent or guardian is present and will not be allowed to undertake any employment where it is likely he will have unsupervised access to a child under 18.