Army cadet leader shared child abuse pics

AN ARMY Cadet leader collected and shared images of children being sexually abused and raped, a court has heard.

- JASON EVANS Court and crime reporter

Michael Monks was exposed as a paedophile after police executed a search warrant at his home and seized his phone.

An examination of the device showed he was part of a chat group on an encrypted messaging app where members “traded” indecent images.

Matthew Murphy, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that in May 2022 police executed a search warrant at the 55-year-old defendant's property and seized a number of electronic devices.

He said that on a Huawei phone forensic investigators found four dozen indecent images of children - including 25 of Category A showing the most serious kinds of sexual abuse - along with three photos depicting bestiality.

The court heard the examination of the phone also found Monks was part of a group on the Wickr encrypted app where like-minded people were chatting and “trading” indecent images. As well as receiving images from other group members, the defendant had swapped four of his own images with others.