A FORMER MP has today pleaded guilty to downloading hundreds of indecent images of children.

Simon Thomas, 54, is a former Plaid Cymru MP and former regional Assembly Member.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, including 94 still and 56 moving images of the most serious category A.

He also pleaded guilty to making 87 still images and 16 moving images of category B, and 354 still and five moving images of children of category C.

The offences took place on or before 23 July, Aberystwyth magistrates were told.

Thomas, who had represented the Mid and West Wales region since 2011 and was MP for Ceredigion between 2000 and 2005, will next appear before Mold Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 31 October.

A pre-sentence report will be made before that date ahead of sentencing for the offences, while Thomas will have to register as a sex offender on an interim basis.

Thomas was released on bail with conditions not to have unsupervised contact with under-16s and to surrender his passport to police.