A 55-year-old local man has been gaoled for 15 months after downloading more that 13,000 images of child pornography from the internet.

Former accountant, David Thomas, of Blaengwaith Noah House, Princes Gate, admitted five offences of possessing indecent images and 10 of making them, over a five-year period, when the case came before Swansea Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard that when police raided his home they seized two computers and bundles of CDs and floppy disks, which when examined by a computer expert revealed 13,468 indecent images that fell into various categories of obscenity.

Thomas, who immediately co-operated with the police after he was arrested last December as part of the national and international Operation Ore, carried out by the police and NSPCC, was also ordered by the court to register with the police as a sex offender on his release from prison.