HARROW MAN DAVID DAINES SENTENCED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND CHILD ABUSE IMAGES

In December 2005, David Daines, a 44-year-old former scoutmaster from Harrow, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty of possessing a vast collection of child pornography, including over 9,000 photographs and videos depicting the sexual abuse and torture of children. The court heard that Daines had accumulated this disturbing hoard over several years, with evidence suggesting the material dated back to 1996, shortly after he left his role as a leader with the Baden Powell Scouts Association.

During the trial at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, prosecutors revealed that among the images were 90 of the most severe category five images, which depicted children as young as four or five being subjected to horrific acts of sexual torture. These images painted a disturbing picture of the extent of Daines' involvement in child exploitation. Additionally, investigators uncovered a five-minute camcorder recording taken through a fence of a primary school, showing young boys and girls at play. Although this footage was discovered, it was not included in the charges against him.

The investigation uncovered that Daines had a history of misconduct. He was dismissed from his scoutmaster role in 1995 after authorities learned he had a prior conviction for possessing an indecent image of a child under 16. Despite this, he continued to engage in illegal activities, amassing a collection of illicit images and videos. Until recently, Daines worked as an IT manager at a building firm in Wembley, where he used his technical skills to conceal his activities when police began investigating him in 2001.

Further inquiries linked Daines to convicted paedophile and ex-Baden Powell Scoutmaster Paul Woodruff, aged 40 from Middlesbrough. Woodruff was captured on a sickening camcorder video abusing a nine-year-old boy, which led to his 11-year imprisonment at Teeside Crown Court in 2003. The police then executed a search at Daines' residence in South Harrow in December 2003, where they seized homemade video cassettes and computers containing thousands of images of children being abused by adults.

Judge Timothy Lawrence, presiding over the case, sentenced Daines to 15 months in prison. In his remarks, the judge emphasized the gravity of the crimes, stating, “You were convicted of many counts after trial, though you protested your innocence in the face of what seemed to me and the jury overwhelming evidence. You still maintain a complete lack of remorse for the possession of these images. Each one is of a real, live child whose degradation is depicted for your own amusement and entertainment. It is an offence likely to mark these children psychologically if not for the rest of their lives then a very long time. It is an offence which society at large finds abhorrent.”

Furthermore, Daines was ordered to be banned from working with or having unsupervised contact with children for the rest of his life. He was also required to sign the sex offenders’ register permanently. Outside the courtroom, Detective Inspector Ian Hughes of the Metropolitan Police Major Investigation Child Abuse Team commented on the case, saying, “We have conducted a detailed and painstaking investigation to bring Daines to justice.”

During the trial, Daines denied eight counts of possessing indecent images of children and two counts of making such images. However, the jury found him guilty on all charges, leading to his imprisonment and lifelong registration as a sex offender.