Teaching assistant and volunteer at a gymnastics club was caught with child abuse films on his mobile phone.

Sam Picone, 24, from Caerphilly, was sentenced to a three-year community order after pleading guilty to possessing indecent images of children.

Picone, who worked as a teaching assistant at a comprehensive school in Cardiff and volunteered at a gymnastics club for children aged 6-14, was caught with 13 category A images, the most serious kind, three category B and four category C images.

Police executed a search warrant at his parents' address on February 16 and found the images on his phone. Picone initially told police he had not saved the images but later admitted to viewing them on the Snapchat app.

While none of the images found on his phone were indecent, police deemed some of them inappropriate, particularly those relating to the gymnastics club where he volunteered. The court did not name either the school or the club.

Picone also pleaded guilty to possessing an extreme pornographic image. He has no prior convictions.

Judge Niclas Parry, sentencing Picone, said: "What you need to understand, and I'm sure that you do, is that everything you were viewing was actually happening to these children. These dreadful and disgraceful things happen because people are viewing them."

The judge acknowledged that Picone had pleaded guilty immediately, had no previous convictions, and had lost his job, career, and volunteer work as a result of his actions.

In addition to the community order, Picone was ordered to complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity order, participate in the Horizon sex offender programme, and carry out 80 hours of unpaid work. He will also have to register as a sex offender for five years and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.