Ex-BBC producer guilty of possessing indecent images of children is spared jail

A former BBC producer has been spared jail after being found guilty of downloading child abuse images.

Dylan Dawes, 50, who started working for the BBC in 2000, had more than 6,000 indecent images of children on his devices when they were seized by police.

Dawes denied having a sexual interest in children and claimed someone else may have used the devices, which were sometimes left overnight at the BBC’s Cardiff HQ.

At Cardiff Crown Court in April, he was found guilty of three counts of possessing an indecent image of a child, and three counts of making an indecent image of a child, relating to more than 6,000 images found on his devices.

At Newport Crown Court on Thursday, Dawes was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Judge Egan said: “You have paid and you will continue to pay a heavy price for what you did.

“The public humiliation has been, and will continue to be, significant.

“The ball is now in your court to ensure that you stay out of trouble – I’m confident that you will.”

Judge Egan said Dawes had sought to blame “anyone and everyone” who had access to the former BBC offices in Llandaff, casting suspicion over many of his former colleagues.

Dawes joined the BBC while living in London in 2000 and started his job at BBC Wales after moving to Cardiff in 2001, where he worked as a producer on radio shows and podcasts.

The court heard he was arrested in 2022 after officers searched his Cardiff home, finding indecent images on four devices, including a hard drive, laptop and two iPads.

Dawes, who worked with presenters including Jason Mohammad and Rhod Gilbert, told the court he had “fairly regularly” viewed “adult pornography” but denied having downloaded incident images of children.

The court heard he had “no idea” how the images were downloaded and denied having used the search term “jailbait”, suggesting someone else may have accessed the devices.

Harry Baker, prosecuting, said the images had been found on four of Dawes’ devices and it was unlikely this was an “unhappy coincidence”.

Dawes, of Canton, Cardiff, was suspended from his job at the BBC after his arrest and is no longer employed by the broadcaster.

Andrew Taylor, defending, said Dawes did not “shy away” from the findings of the court.

He said: “This is a 50-year-old man who has never been before the court in his life.

“This is a man who has lost everything.

“He is coming to terms with his offending and he will try his level best to rehabilitate.”