Former BBC Wales producer Dylan Dawes, 50, was allegedly found with 6,200 child abuse images and searched the term “jailbait” online. He appeared at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday after images were found on a laptop, two iPads and a hard drive. The jury was told that 185 Category A images had been recovered.
He was first arrested at his Cardiff home in February 2022, when officers seized four of his devices. After his arrest, he told police he had “no knowledge” of the images, which the court heard were downloaded “during a period of time of about 16 years”. Prosecutor Harry Baker told the court that Dawes started working at the BBC in 2001 and was “downloading child pornography” between 2006 and 2022.
Baker said when Dawes was initially arrested, he denied possessing or making any indecent images of children in his police interview.
He admitted taking one of the iPads to work and claimed he also gave the hard drive to colleagues for work-related purposes.
Later, 483 images were found on the four devices belonging to him, of which seven were Category A images.
A further 5,794 images were recovered and identified by experts as having been on the devices at some point. This included 185 Category A images.
According to the BBC, when Dawes was quizzed again by the police, he said he had "no knowledge of any indecent images that were found on my devices".
The defendant said he’d looked at "adult" pornography in the past, but denied having a sexual interest in children.
He also said "at various stages, all the devices have been left for extended periods in open plan offices and not in my possession". Dawes answered with “no comment” to further police questioning.
He faces three counts of possessing indecent photographs of a child in Categories A, B and C, dated to his arrest on February 28, 2022.
His three other counts relate to images the prosecutions say were not on the devices at the time of arrest, but “were later recovered”.
The BBC confirmed the defendant was no longer employed by the corporation and would not be commenting on the ongoing case.
The trial continues at Cardiff Crown Court.
