Plaid Cymru politician admits making more than 600 indecent images of children

A former Plaid Cymru politician has pleaded guilty to making making more than 600 indecent pictures and videos of children.

Simon Thomas, 54, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children when he appeared at Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

The court heard 150 pictures and videos, found at the home of the former Welsh Assembly member in July, were in the highest category of illegal images.

Thomas (pictured) pleaded guilty to making 94 still and 56 moving images of category A, 87 still and 16 moving images of category B, and 354 still and five moving images of category C.

District Judge Gwyn Jones warned Thomas “all sentencing options are open” before he adjourned the hearing for a pre-sentence report.

Thomas was ordered to surrender his passport to police and was prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children below the age of 16.

District Judge Jones said: “The fact the court has adjourned today for a report should not be taken as an indication of any predetermined sentence.

“This includes custody or the case being sent to the crown court.”

Thomas, from Penparcau, Aberystwyth, was granted conditional bail until he appears at Mold Magistrates’ Court on October 31.

He resigned from Plaid Cymru and from his role as the Welsh Assembly member for Mid and West Wales after he was arrested in July.

Thomas was also MP for Ceredigion between 2000 and 2005.

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