Dylan Dawes: Former BBC producer avoids jail sentence after downloading 6,000 child abuse images

A former BBC producer has avoided a prison sentence after being found guilty of downloading child sex 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 sometimes claimed someone else might have used devices left overnight at the BBC’s Cardiff headquarters.

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

Dawes 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 a heavy price for what you have done and you will continue to do so.

“Public humiliation was and will continue to be important.

“The ball is now in your court to make sure you stay out of trouble; I’m sure you’ll do that.”

Judge Egan said Dawes had tried to implicate “anyone and everyone” who had access to the BBC’s former offices in Llandaff, casting suspicion on many of his former colleagues.

He added: “But the truth is that none of these hundreds of people were to blame.

“You, and you alone, were to blame.”

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

The court heard he was arrested in 2022 after officers searched his Cardiff home and found 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 watched “adult pornography” “fairly regularly” but denied downloading images of children involved.

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

Prosecutor Harry Baker said the images were found on four of Dawes’ devices and it was unlikely to be an “unhappy coincidence”.

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

Andrew Taylor, defending, said Dawes was “unafraid” of the court’s findings.

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

“This is a man who lost everything.

“He accepts his crimes and will try to do his best to recover.”