'Monstrous' paedophile convicted of raping children collapses in dock when he is jailed for 22 years

A paedophile collapsed in court when he was jailed for 22 years for the historic sexual abuse of several children.

Arwyn Cellan Thomas had pleaded not guilty to 15 charges, including the rape of a child under 13, but was found guilty following a trial at Swansea Crown Court on Thursday (8 February).

And the court had to be cleared when the 49-year-old collapsed when he was told he had to serve the jail term, with a six-year extension.

Thomas, of Martin Street in Morriston, was found guilty of five charges of indecent assault, six charges of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13, three charges of rape of a child under the age of 13, and assault of a child under 13 by penetration.

Sentencing, Judge Paul Thomas QC told Thomas that he was a "devious" and "controlling" man who had forced his victims to relive their torment during the trial.

"The way in which you abused these children was simply monstrous, and I choose my words carefully," Paul Thomas said according to Wales Online.

"You systematically and cynically started to sexually abuse them. The similar ages of your victims points to, in my view, a sexual interest of a particular age. Your sexual abuse stopped at around the same ages.

"There was an escalation in what you did. You behaved in a quite awful fashion . . . and your victims' lives have been so badly affected."

Arwyn Cellan Thomas, formerly of Llanelli, was found guilty on 17 January and will have to serve at least two thirds of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

The court were read a series of victim impact statements, with one survivor stating: "I used to have flash backs to what he had done to me. I was ashamed about what he had done to me."