November 2017 ‘Dangerous’ paedophile admitted in police interview he was still sexually attracted to children The victim of a “dangerous” paedophile who first sexually assaulted her when she was just three years old says she hates him for what he did to her. Stephen Thomas, 57, admitted to sexually assaulting his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on a number of occasions in the 1980s in Bridgend. His predatory behaviour came to light after his victim told the police about the abuse she had suffered. Despite the length of time since the offences Thomas admitted he was still sexually attracted to children to police during his interview, where he made full and frank admissions about what he had done. He told officers about sexual assaults upon his victim which she did not report as she was too young to remember. Thomas’ sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday heard the defendant had pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault. Prosecutor Roger Griffiths said the defendant’s first act of indecent assault on the victim took place when she was three years old while the last act of abuse took place when she was 15 or 16 years old. Mr Griffiths said the victim made a witness statement to police on July 4 this year and Thomas was arrested at a residential unit at Cefn Coed psychiatric hospital in Swansea. In his police interview the defendant told officers he touched the complainant in “a place where he shouldn’t” in order to gain sexual gratification. He said he found her attractive and said he found children attractive in general. In a victim personal statement read out to the court, the complainant said: “I hate Stephen Thomas for what he did to me and I don’t ever want to see him again.” She added: “What he did was wrong and disgusting. How anyone can do what he did is beyond me. “I class myself as a strong person and have moved on but I feel Stephen Thomas is a risk to children and always will be.” Sentencing, Recorder Peter Griffiths QC said he found the defendant to be “dangerous” and a posed a serious risk of harm. He said: “I’m not going to lecture you – you know what you did and you have expressed yourself as sorry and wish it did not happen. I have a difficult job of dealing with you for these offences which are very old indeed. “I have concluded that there is, in my judgement, a significant risk of harm in the future and I am very concerned about that.” Thomas, of Oystermouth Road, Swansea, was sentenced to an extended term of five years imprisonment. He was also made subject to a restraining order in respect of the victim, a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.