Pembrokeshire people who downloaded child pornography were warned by a judge today (Friday) that it was only a matter of time before a police officer knocked on their door.

Judge Geraint Walters was speaking as he sentenced a Pembroke man who downloaded entire films of underage children being abused.

Leigh Oldfield, said to be a successful man earning more than £30,000 a year, admitted making three indecent images classed in law as being of the most serious, but they were all films and not single images.

Oldfield, aged 45, of Lower Lamphrey Road, also admitted making 19 Category B images, but all of them were also videos. And he admitted making 1,536 images of Category C, of which 162 were movies.

Judge Walters said at Swansea crown court that it constantly surprised him that men who got involved in child pornography did not appreciate that they would be arrested.

"What people do not understand when they do this is that the police now have the means of detecting them," he added.

He told Oldfield, a father, that he must now feel profoundly embarrassed.

"But, you have something of a dark secret. You took a liking to pornography and went into the forbidden territory of images that are illegal.

"These children are real and the pictures depict real sexual abuse of them," added the judge.

Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said the offending came to light after police officers executed a search warrant at his home and confiscated two Dell computers.

After his arrest Oldfield said he had been downloading child porn "for a couple of years."

Oldfield was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years, and ordered to undertake 90 sessions of rehabilitation, the highest number the judge could order.

He was also told to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years, made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and told to pay £400 in prosecution costs.