Former BBC producer Victor Melleney, 76, has been handed a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children. The sentence of 22 months, suspended for two years, was delivered at Kingston Crown Court.
Police discovered Category A images—the most serious classification—on Melleney's computer, including those depicting children as young as four being abused. Melleney, who worked on programmes such as Question Time and Panorama, had denied any sexual interest in the material.
During the trial, Melleney claimed he had downloaded a large amount of pornography after becoming lonely while caring for his two children in the late 1990s. Hard drives were recovered from his homes in Holland Park and Kensington, west London, including one from the pocket of a dressing gown he was wearing.
Ruona Iguyovwe of the Crown Prosecution Service stated that Melleney was aware he possessed the images, which formed part of a collection downloaded over several years. The jury acquitted him of two further charges: possession of an extreme pornographic image and possession of a prohibited image.
