Simon Thomas will not face a harsher punishment despite outrage that he received only a suspended prison sentence for downloading hundreds of indecent images of children, the Cambrian News has been told.

The 26-week suspended prison sentence for Thomas sparked an outcry from members of the public and politicians from opposition parties who feel the sentence was too lenient.

And they have called for the former Plaid Cymru regional AM and Ceredigion MP to be re-sentenced in the hope that he will be given a harsher penalty.

But the Attorney General’s office has told the Cambrian News that this is not possible because he was sentenced in a magistrates’ court, and not a crown court.

Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies had written to the Attorney General and Crown Prosecution Service demanding that Thomas face a greater punishment.

He said: “Given the public outrage over the leniency of this punishment, I have written to the Attorney General and the Crown Prosecution Service to see what mechanisms are available for review.

“To me, the punishment handed down to Mr Thomas seems absurd given the severity and horrific nature of the crimes.

“It is my understanding that this will sadly fall outside of the remit of the Attorney General, which shows there is an anomaly in the system and begs some serious questions as to why this was dealt with at a magistrates court."

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