A former BBC producer has avoided a prison sentence after being found guilty of downloading thousands of child sexual abuse images. Dylan Dawes, 50, had more than 6,000 indecent images of children on his devices when they were seized by police.
Dawes, who started working for the BBC in 2000, denied having a sexual interest in children. He claimed that someone else may have used the devices, which were sometimes left overnight at the BBC’s Cardiff headquarters.
At Cardiff Crown Court in April, he was found guilty of three counts of possessing an indecent image of a child, along with three counts of making an indecent image of a child. He was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Newport Crown Court on Thursday. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Judge Egan told him: “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 judge 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.
The court heard that Dawes was arrested in 2022 after officers searched his Cardiff home, finding indecent images on four devices, including a hard drive, laptop and two iPads. He worked with presenters including Jason Mohammad and Rhod Gilbert. Dawes was suspended from his job after his arrest and is no longer employed by the broadcaster.
