Bournemouth man jailed for child exploitation images

BOURNEMOUTH MAN JAILED FOR CHILD EXPLOITATION IMAGES

A father-of-two, Carl Dale, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after admitting to making and distributing a total of 1,748 indecent images of children on his home computer.

The Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Dale's collection included both still images and movies, which shocked officers from the Dorset Police sex offenders' investigation unit.

Prosecutor Sadie Rizzo described the images as some of the worst police officers had ever seen.

Some movies lasted over an hour and featured very young children.

Dale, 43, was charged with 17 counts of distributing indecent photographs of children and one count of making an indecent photograph.

The police raided his home on December 3, 2004, after receiving information from Devon and Cornwall officers that he had supplied such images to another man.

Defence lawyer Miss Joanna Morrissey stated that Dale had become depressed and suicidal following his father’s death and emphasized his previous good character, stressing that he did not feel sexually aroused by children.

During the hearing, Dale was tearful as Judge John Beashel sentenced him, highlighting the severity of child exploitation involved and stating, "You exploited these children, some of whom were very young, from a distance." Dale was also ordered to be registered as a sex offender for life and disqualified from working with children.

The officer in charge, DC Richard Winn, noted that Dale’s interest in child abuse images escalated over time and that he shared his collection with another sex offender.

The sentence publicly demonstrates the seriousness with which courts treat such offences.