A former church minister and BBC Wales presenter has appeared in court charged with sexual offences against children and adults spanning 30 years.
Ben Thomas, aged 44, from Flintshire, was charged with 40 offences, including indecent assaults against children and adults, and voyeurism.
The offences are said to have happened in north Wales, Shropshire, London, and Romania.
He appeared before Llandudno Magistrates’ Court on Friday and is next due to appear at Mold Crown Court on 17 July.
The offences allegedly took place between 1990 and last year.
Thomas worked for BBC Wales as a reporter and a presenter on Ffeil, the Welsh language news programme for young people, and on Wales Today.
According to the BBC themselves, Thomas left the BBC in 2005 to preach on the streets of London, before returning to Wales in 2008 as pastor of the Criccieth Family Church in Gwynedd. He left his post last year.
North Wales Police said: “Further to our statement in November regarding an investigation linked to the Criccieth Family Church, North Wales Police can confirm that Ben Thomas, Pastor for the church appeared before Llandudno Magistrates Court today charged with 40 offences of a sexual nature.
“This is now an ongoing matter for the courts and it would be inappropriate to make any further comment.
“If anybody who has not already spoken to us feels they may have information of relevance to the enquiry please make contact using the following methods:
“Email OperationBlueQuartz@nthwales.pnn.police.uk or ring 101 and quote ‘Operation Blue Quartz’.”
In November, Detective Superintendent Gareth Evans said: “The enquiry is both sensitive and complex and will take weeks to complete.
“We have a team of specialist officers dedicated to the enquiry who are working with the safeguarding team from the church and our partners in Local Authorities.
“I would like to reassure our local communities that there are no ongoing risks you need to be worried about.”
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