An Ammanford paedophile was warned today he was on his way to jail after he admitted downloading child pornography for a second time.

Mark Tomlinson, aged 51, of Gerymanwydd, High Street, had been due to be sentenced by Judge Paul Thomas at Swansea crown court.

Tomlinson admitted possessing 21 indecent images of children aged between seven and 12 and admitted being in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed in December 2016, for earlier offences of possessing child pornography.

Then he had walked into a magistrates' court with a mobile telephone holding 110 indecent images.

Sophie Hill, prosecuting, said detectives paid Tomlinson a routine visit on August 15 last year and asked to examine his computers.

One revealed he had been searching the internet for images of "barely legal" youngsters and that just a few days earlier he had set his machine to "factory reset," wiping out traces of previous searches which went against the terms of the SHPO.

Tomlinson maintained he liked to play games which soon slowed down his computer and that he pressed factory reset to speed it up.

Judge Thomas said he did not accept that.

He said the shop where Tomlinson had bought the computer had already set it back to its original condition and he did not believe his explanation, and feared the real reason was that he wanted to conceal what he had been doing.

Judge Thomas said he would sentence Tomlinson on April 21 and during that hearing he could produce evidence to persuade the judge he had been telling the truth.

If not, added Judge Thomas, he would sentence Tomlinson on the basis he had been downloading child pornography on earlier occasions.

He said that as things stood the starting point would be two years in prison.

Judge Thomas granted Tomlinson bail until April 21 but warned him he had come "within the skin of your teeth" to going immediately into custody.