Mother reveals how sons were forced to give evidence in court after father blamed THEM for thousands of child porn images found on his computer 

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To his adoring sons, Jonathan Weekes was the perfect dad - lavishing them with attention, treating them to trips away and spending every weekend caring for them.

But behind Weekes’ fatherly devotion lay a dark obsession: he was hooked on trawling the web for vile child pornography.

And when Weekes’ hapless family stumbled across his secret, he turned on them in the most cowardly way imaginable – he blamed the stash of obscene images on his own sons.

Traumatised sons (Thomas, 25, left, and Adam, 22, right) had no choice but to confide in mother, Nicola Lewis, 47 (centre) after they made the shocking discovery

Devastated Adam – who has now disowned his dad and even changed his name by deed poll - said: ‘He may have brought me into this world, but he’s not my father. I hate him for what he’s put me through – and for what he is.’

Angry ex Nicola Lewis, 47, said: ‘Jonathan denied his guilt to the bitter end and tried to blame anyone and everyone around him – including his own family. It’s cost him everything and every person he was close to.’

Nicola was already a mum to two young boys – Thomas, 25, and his older brother, who has asked not to be named – when she met Weekes more than 20 years ago.

Weekes treated the boys as his own and cemented his role as dedicated dad when Nicola fell pregnant with Adam, now 22.

When their relationship fell apart, Weekes insisted on staying in touch with the children, and the pair agreed the boys would spend weekends with him.

Nicola, from Aberdare in Rhondda, South Wales, added: ‘I had no complaints about Jonathan as a father and no qualms about the boys going to stay with him.

'When they were younger, they'd sleep over at Jonathan's house and they talked on the phone with him all the time.

Jonathan pictured with his sons Adam (front) and Thomas when they were children

‘As they got older, they had their own social lives but they always wanted to spend time with Jonathan. 

‘They were great lads and I could see they really benefited from having a father-figure.'

Adam’s happy memories of weekends at his dad’s in nearby Merthyr Vale include learning to shoot an air rifle, trips to the cinema and theme park outings.

‘Nothing was too much trouble,’ he remembers. ‘I’d stay with dad every weekend until I was about 16 or 17, and then every couple of weeks after that. I’d go over there after school on Friday and come home Sunday night.

‘I loved him, and I wouldn’t have done half the things I’ve done if it hadn’t been for him.’

But that love was destroyed one night two years ago when Adam was confronted by the awful truth that his dad hoarded sick images of child pornography downloaded from the internet.

Adam recalls: ‘It was late at night and dad had already gone to bed. The weather had been rotten all day so we’d just been chilling at home.

‘I was still sat up. I’d downloaded some music and went to burn it onto a CD, but opened the wrong folder by mistake.

‘There were hundreds, maybe thousands of images of children in there – nasty stuff, too horrible to describe.

Adam was too horrified to tell his family, carrying the burden of what he had found,  and endured three weeks of torment before he finally broke down

‘I was in total shock, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I felt sick, angry and confused.

‘I logged off the computer and tried to sleep – but I couldn’t get what I’d seen out of my head. I barely slept a wink that night.’

The next morning, Adam concealed his horror and spent the rest of the day with his dad before returning home.

Wrestling with his emotions, Adam knew he had to share his discovery – but couldn’t bring himself to tell his mum what he’d found.

And bearing the dreaded burden alone came at an awful cost.

‘He was suddenly full of rage,’ says Nicola. ‘He had violent outbursts and fought with his brothers all the time.

'He refused to talk to me about what was going on and I didn't know what to do.'

Adam admits: ‘My head was wrecked. I just couldn’t cope with what I’d seen, what I’d found out about my dad, and I went completely off the rails.

‘My temper went through the roof, I was horrible to everyone around me – friends, family and colleagues. I nearly lost my job because I was so awful to people at work.’

After three weeks of torment, Adam could no longer bear his secret alone and he finally broke down, revealing all to Nicola.

‘I was reading in bed,’ she says. ‘He came in and plonked himself down – he obviously had something he wanted to get off his chest. He told me he'd found things on his dad's computer, things that weren't very nice.

'Sitting bolt upright, I asked him what he meant, and then he admitted he'd found pornographic images of children.'

The conversation was overheard by Thomas who revealed he, too, had been wrestling with the discovery of vile photos on his dad’s computer for the past six weeks.

‘I was furious he hadn’t said anything before, but at the same time relieved I wasn’t alone,’ Adam says. ‘He’d felt the same as me – neither of us had been able to tell the other because we didn’t want to believe what we’d seen with our own eyes.’

Nicola told the boys it was their decision whether to involve the police.

‘They wouldn't tell me exactly what they'd seen,’ she remembers. They were completely traumatised and refused to talk about it.

‘And I had to ask the question no mum ever wants to ask her children: “Were you abused by your dad?”

‘They insisted he’d never laid a finger on them. It was a massive relief but I still felt guilty. I wished I hadn't let them spend time alone at Jonathan's house. I blamed myself for what they'd been exposed to.

'Hearing the boys give their evidence, finally hearing in awful detail about the vile images they'd seen, tore me apart' - Nicola Lewis and the two boys were forced to give evidence in a painful week-long trial 

‘We all knew that reporting the crime would destroy their relationship with their dad forever, and would likely mean both of them having to give evidence against him.

‘But they’re both adults and I had no doubt they’d make the right choice – it was inevitable that they’d ask me to call the police.’

The boys gave statements and Weekes, 48, was arrested.

Computer equipment was seized in a raid on his new home in Tredegar, Gwent.

The family didn’t think the situation could get any worse – until Weekes betrayed his sons by blaming them for his vile horde of downloads.

Nicola said: 'I couldn’t believe he'd sunk so low. The ridiculous accusations destroyed the boys. They were both in pieces.

'I sat down with them and told them that if it came to it, we'd prove they were telling the truth.'

Adam commented: ‘The police told us he was trying to pin it on us, and also his own brother. I was white with rage when I found out.

‘The police looked into his allegations, but they were nonsense – he’d made some of the files years ago, when I was about nine years old. The police knew he was lying.’

Weekes denied all but the family hoped he would face up to what he’d done and change his plea to guilty.

Instead, he played the legal system for two-and-a-half years before his case finally came to court.

Finally facing justice last month, he forced Nicola and his sons to give evidence in a week-long trial.

The jury heard how nearly 6,000 indecent images were found on a computer and equipment seized from Weekes’ home, going back as far as 2003.

Over 22,000 references to the phrase 'pre-teen' were found on his laptop.

Nicola said: 'I thought he'd at least be man enough to own up to what he'd done. I never thought he'd make me or the boys take the stand in court.

'Taking the witness stand was the worst thing I've ever had to do. I was shaking like a leaf.

'And hearing the boys give their evidence, finally hearing in awful detail about the vile images they'd seen, tore me apart.' 

He was convicted unanimously on one count of possessing thousands of indecent images, another of possessing prohibited images of a child and one of possessing extreme pornographic images.

He is awaiting sentence at Merthyr Crown Court.

Adam changed his surname from Weekes to Lewis last year – and now wants nothing more to do with his father.

‘I want everyone to know what he is,’ says Adam. ‘The more people who know the better. He’s paedophile – and a coward.’