FORMER Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas is facing three charges of making indecent images of children.

Dyfed-Powys Police announced today it had charged the former Welsh Assembly Member following his arrest earlier this year.

The married 54-year-old father's unexpected resignation as the Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales and as a member of Plaid Cymru was announced in July. It was then revealed he was facing a police investigation.

A spokeswoman for the police said: "Dyfed-Powys Police can confirm that 54-year-old Simon Thomas from Aberystwyth has today, September 18, been charged with three counts of making indecent images of children and will appear at Aberystwyth Magistrate’s Court on October 3, 2018."

The former Ceredigion MP was elected to represent the Mid and West Wales area, which includes Powys, in 2011 and returned in 2016.

The 54-year-old married father-of-two has been the party’s spokesman on rural affairs and was due to attend an Assembly committee meeting at the Royal Welsh Show and launch the party’s economic plan for Powys, at the Llanelwedd showground, on the day his resignation was announced.