Dylan Dawes (Image: PA Images / Alamy)
Last Updated: 3 minutes ago
A producer who spent more than two decades working for the BBC – including alongside well-known presenters at its Cardiff base – has been handed a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of offences involving thousands of indecent images of children.
Dylan Dawes, 50, of Canton, Cardiff, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court on Thursday to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The conviction
Dawes had stood trial at Cardiff Crown Court in April, where a jury found him guilty on six charges – 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 more than 6,000 images discovered across his devices.
The investigation
Officers carried out a search of Dawes’ Cardiff home in 2022, uncovering indecent images stored on four separate devices – a hard drive, a laptop, and two iPads.
Dawes was suspended from his role at the BBC following his arrest. He is no longer employed by the broadcaster.
Career at the BBC
Dawes first joined the BBC in 2000 while based in London, before relocating to Cardiff in 2001 to take up a role at BBC Wales. He went on to work as a producer on radio shows and podcasts, working alongside presenters including Jason Mohammad and Rhod Gilbert.
Defence claims
Throughout proceedings, Dawes maintained he had no sexual interest in children. He told the court he had “fairly regularly” viewed “adult pornography” but denied having downloaded indecent images of children.
He claimed he had “no idea” how the material came to be on his devices and denied using the search term “jailbait”, suggesting that someone else may have accessed them. The devices, he said, were sometimes left overnight at the BBC’s headquarters in Llandaff.
Prosecutor Harry Baker rejected that explanation, telling the court that the images had been found across four of Dawes’ devices and that it was unlikely this amounted to an “unhappy coincidence”.
Sentencing
Passing sentence, Judge Egan told Dawes: “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 ball is now in your court to ensure that you stay out of trouble – I’m confident that you will.”
The judge noted that 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.
Mitigation
Andrew Taylor, representing Dawes, told the court his client did not “shy away” from the findings of the court.
He said: “This is a 50-year-old man who has never been before the court in his life.
“This is a man who has lost everything.
“He is coming to terms with his offending and he will try his level best to rehabilitate.”
