A female primary school headteacher has admitted making explicit pictures of children, as parents complain they believed she had been on “sick leave” and even sent her flowers.

Rhian Desouza, 43, appeared in court on Friday on two charges of making indecent photograph of a child in May and June of this year.

The married mother-of-two was suspended from her role as head of Gellionnen primary school in Swansea.

Desouza, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, has been head of the Welsh-speaking school - formally known as Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gellionnen - for more than five years.

Parents at the school, which has 187 full-time pupils aged three to 11 including a nursery, said they were "stunned and disgusted" at the charges.

Desouza was suspended in July before the end of term with parents believing she was off on sick leave.

One mother said: "We even sent her flowers on the day of the school prom because we all thought she was off ill. It is just disgusting to think what has been going on - nobody had a clue."