OFFICERS involved in the investigation of a Gwent detective, jailed for exchanging indecent images of children over the internet, were praised for “an outstanding piece of police work.”

Michael Roger Owen Thomas, 40, formerly of Newport, was jailed for 12-months on Friday, after he was found guilty of 11 counts of making indecent images, 10 counts of distributing indecent images and one count of possessing indecent images of a child after a three-week trial last month.

During the trial, the court heard Thomas exchanged images over internet service, Google Hello, which went out of use in June 2008.

Thomas sent a total of 253 images and received nearly 2,500 through the system between March and October 2007. A total of 33 sent images and 456 received images were indecent images of children.

Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) Wales commissioner, Tom Davies, praised Gwent Police’s investigation team, led by acting Detective Chief Inspectior Bill Davies, for their “integrity, motivation and dedication.”

He said: “This was a groundbreakig case that convicted a man despite there being little evidence on his computer after Thomas forensically deleted 28,000 files from the laptop he used, hours before his arrest.

"This was are remarkable piece of detective work that painstakingly found the evidence to prove his guilt.”

The investigation that ultimately led to Thomas, started with an operation in the United States regarding the distribution of indecent images.

A distributor was identified in the West Midlands and investigations by West Midlands Police linked Thomas to the website.

The investigation, which started in November 2007, involved a number of UK police forces, as well as the FBI and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

Mr Davies said he hoped the case would act as a deterrent to others exchanging child abuse images.

He said: “They should be warned that this case sets a precedent in the future for any court in Britain hearing cases where there is an absence of evidence of possession of indecent images.”