A housing association has been forced to rehome a Gilwern man facing charges of possessing indecent images of children following an on-street protest by concerned parents.

Stephen Tucker, who pleaded guilty to the charges at a hearing at Newport Crown Court earlier this month, had lived at Cae Derw for five weeks when the local community became aware of his latest court appearance on August 17, in which he also admitted possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal.

By the evening of Tuesday, August 21 many concerned parents had began protesting outside the United Welsh Housing Association property, vociferously voicing their disgust and anger and saying that Mr Tucker was no longer welcome to live in the village.

As protestors made their feelings known Mr Tucker was spotted taking photographs and video footage of them from his bedroom window.

The protestors kept up the pressure until the early hours of the morning when Mr Tucker was escorted from the property by police officers.

Abergavenny police later confirmed that an incident had occurred and that two police cars and a riot van had attended the address in Gilwern.

They also confirmed that the man who was at the centre of the disturbance was escorted away from the scene.

Llanelly Community Councillor Tony Carrington said, "What is very concerning to me is that this person had been living in the area for five weeks without being detected, which throws serious questions to United Welsh Housing Association who allowed this person to swap properties and be re-housed in a site full of young children.

"Whoever allowed this to happen has, in my opinion, seriously brought the association into disrepute.

"I think it's about time these housing authorities were made to re-think their allocation policies and revert back to the old system whereby local people fill the vacant properties in the respective areas.

"We have many young people in Gilwern waiting to be housed so there is no excuse.

"However, amongst all the chaos I would like to thank the police who acted as quickly as they could in response to the telephone calls from local residents.

"United Welsh must now have an inquiry into how this person slipped through the net. They will be aware that this situation must never happen again as Gilwern residents have already demonstrated they will not allow it to happen."

A spokesman for United Welsh Housing Association said, "Our neighbourhood officer has been door-knocking in the area to allay resident's fears. We can also confirm that the occupant will definitely not be returning to this Gilwern address.

"The property has now been boarded up. All other matters are out of our control and the relevant authorities are dealing with the individual."

County Councillors Giles Howard and Simon Howarth said, "When we heard about the incident we immediately asked United Welsh Housing Association why their policy on housing a convicted sex offender so close to community areas wasn't followed.

"We both want to ensure Gilwern residents that this will not happen again and are seeking the housing association's commitment to this.

"As councillors we were amazed that someone of this man's background was able to instigate a house swap without the relevant checks being undertaken, especially as this property over looks the school playing fields and a children's play area."

A Gwent Police spokesman said, "The management of sex offenders in the community is provided under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements which involve the police, the probation service, local authorities, the prison service, health and other partners.

"Public safety is always the priority and all aspects of cases are carefully considered at every stage of the process which includes where the offender lives and potential safety issues arising.

"You can find out more about the MAPPA process by visiting gwentmappa.org.uk/Gwent."