Former BBC producer Dylan Dawes has been spared jail after downloading more than 6,000 indecent images of children. The 50-year-old, who worked on radio shows with presenters including Jason Mohammad and Rhod Gilbert, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Thursday to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Dawes was found guilty in April at Cardiff Crown Court of three counts of possessing an indecent image of a child and three counts of making an indecent image of a child. The offences related to images discovered on four devices, including a hard drive, laptop and two iPads, after police searched his home in Canton, Cardiff, in 2022.
During the trial, Judge Egan criticised Dawes for attempting to shift blame onto colleagues who had access to the former BBC offices in Llandaff. The judge stated: “The real truth, however, was this – that none of those many hundreds of people were to blame. You, and you alone, were to blame.” He added that Dawes had paid and would continue to pay a heavy price, with significant public humiliation.
Dawes told the court he had “no idea” how the images were downloaded and denied using the search term “jailbait”, suggesting someone else may have accessed his devices. Prosecuting barrister Harry Baker said it was unlikely the presence of images on four devices was an “unhappy coincidence”.
Andrew Taylor, defending, said Dawes did not “shy away” from the findings and was “coming to terms with his offending”. He noted that Dawes had lost everything and would try his best to rehabilitate. Dawes has been suspended from the BBC since his arrest and is no longer employed by the broadcaster.
