FESTIVAL WORKER ADAM BELL JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AND DRUG OFFENCES

A festival worker was found with indecent images of children on his phone after he offered drugs to a plain-clothed security guard. Adam Bell, aged 19, was working at the In It Together Festival in Margam, Neath, in May, when he attempted to supply ketamine to an officer. During the investigation, police discovered bags of class B drugs in his tent located in the staff section of the festival in Margam Park. Further inquiry revealed that Bell's phone contained 146 indecent images of children, including some shared with others via the Telegram app. The court found that Bell had shared a category A sex abuse video depicting a child between five and seven years old, and also possessed a disturbing "upskirting" video of a young girl. Bell pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including making indecent images of children, distributing these images, voyeurism, and possessing class B drugs with the intent to supply. His defenses highlighted his early guilty plea and his desire to understand his own behavior, though the judge, Geraint Walters, expressed his own anguish over sentencing, stating, "I cannot begin to understand how you could have gone from a person of good character during most of your teenage life to committing this catalogue of offences." Bell was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. After the conviction, CPS prosecutor Jonathan Pritchard emphasized that Bell intended to use the festival environment to supply illegal drugs and that his mobile phone evidence confirmed he had downloaded and shared child abuse images.