A PAEDOPHILE has been branded “a sad man with sad fantasies” after being found to have almost 1,000 videos and pictures of child sexual abuse – including of newborn babies.

Police seized phones, laptops, computer towers and an iPad from Matthew Wood’s address on Coronation Avenue in Haverfordwest on September 28, 2022, prosecutor Caitlin Brazel said.

The defendant admitted having indecent images of children, and gave the offices the PIN to access his devices. He also directed them in interview to two more computer towers which hadn’t been found in the initial search.

Wood told the officers he had been sent the images as part of a group chat he was part of on the Kik messaging platform, adding that he was “merely curious about what could be found online” and had not looked at the images “for a number of years”.

In total, Wood was found to have 102 images and 321 videos of Category A, 248 images and 62 videos of Category B, and 212 images and eight videos of Category C, as well as five prohibited videos of children and 20 extreme pornographic videos depicting bestiality.

It was also found that Wood had sent a Category A video on February 1, 2022, of a baby aged between 12 and 18 months being sexually abused by a man.

Ms Brazel said Wood was an “active participant” in the chats, sending messages saying he “would rape all the subjects” of pictures and videos, and that he wanted to meet the person who sent him videos so they could “tag team” a child.

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The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to distributing an indecent image of a child, three offences of making indecent images of children, possessing a prohibited image of a child, and possessing extreme pornography – all between August 2018 and September 2022.

“He has no previous convictions,” said Ian Ibrahim, in mitigation. “His good character is now, of course, lost forever.

“He has had to leave home. His mother effectively told him ‘don’t come back’.

“He’s deeply ashamed about what happened.”

Mr Ibrahim said there had been an “enormous delay” in the case coming to court.

He added Wood had been voluntarily attending sex therapy sessions and no longer maintained that he had the images “out of curiosity”.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “The material that you had over a prolonged period of time on your various devices was utterly appalling.

“You clearly have a deep-rooted sexual interest in children.”

Judge Thomas said some of Wood’s comments in the chats were “extremely worrying”.

“You are a sad man with sad fantasies,” he said.

“If you have become a social pariah, you can hardly blame people for acting in disgust at the sort of images you were viewing.”

Wood was sentenced to a total of two years, suspended for two years. He must complete the Maps For Change programme and 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

The defendant must register as a sex offender for 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.