A PONTYPOOL primary school teaching assistant has been given a three-year community order for possessing more than 900 "appalling" indecent images of children.

Simon Williams, aged 39, of Blaendare Road, pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images between February 18 and April 10 this year.

Judge Eleri Rees said it was a "remarkable coincidence" that the teaching assistant, as a person seeking child pornography, sought a career working with children.

She added: "That is a very worrying development for somebody already showing a perverse interest in children."

The court was told that the teaching assistant was working at George Street Primary in Pontypool at the time of his arrest and was also a cub scout leader.

Williams, a father-of-three, had a total of 929 indecent images of children, 219 of which were of category A, the highest category.

He was arrested earlier this year as part of Operation Notarise, a UK-wide police crackdown on people downloading indecent images of children using file sharing software.

The images of children found on his laptop were of children ranging from 18 months old to 12 years old.

Williams claimed he unintentionally viewed the images when opening what he thought was adult pornography.

Judge Rees rejected Williams' mitigation that it was his "naivety and curiosity" that led him to begin actively searching for child pornographic images.

She said: "I'm not accepting this nonsense of naivety and curiosity, you knew exactly what you were doing.

"The photographs, particularly of category A, were appalling. What you have to bear in mind is that these are real children, real victims subjected to rape and assault for the gratification of men like you.

"You contributed directly to the abuse of these children. There are children around the world who are deprived of their childhood, their innocence. They are sentenced to a lifetime of psychological, psychiatric and physical damage.

"It's difficult to understand how a father could for a moment show any interest in these images and offend in this way. You have paid the price in terms of your family and your employment."

Judge Rees gave Williams a three-year community order and ordered him to attend a sex offenders programme.

He will also pay £100 towards court costs and a £60 victim surcharge and has been ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for five years.

A sexual offences prevention order was also issued.

A Torfaen council spokesman said afterwards: “As soon as information was received about these allegations in April, safeguarding professionals from the police, local authority and other relevant agencies have been meeting in line with the all Wales Child Protection procedures to look at all the issues surrounding the case.

“Simon Williams was immediately suspended from his role and the following the completion of the court case is subject to disciplinary processes which will be completed as quickly as possible.

“While the police investigation showed no evidence that Williams’ offending involved any children from the Torfaen area, this has been a very distressing case for the parents and the school community. The schools have received lots of messages of support from parents for which they are extremely grateful.

“Parents from George Street Primary and the former Special Needs Resource Base at Pontymoile where Williams used to work have since had the opportunity to discuss the case and any concerns they have had directly with safeguarding professionals from Gwent Police and the council’s education and social care services.”