August 2005 Paedophile dentist walks free A Dentist who admitted downloading more than 3,000 indecent images of teenage children has avoided jail. Dr Simon Dunn has been given a two-year conditional discharge, despite admitting that he scoured the internet looking for images of youngsters. He saved images of kids in their mid-to-late teens while he was suffering a bout of personal problems, Bristol Crown Court was told yesterday. But the court was told that among the material were indecent pictures of girls as young as ten. Dunn, aged 39, of Capital Edge, Hotwell Road – a former tutor at Bristol Dental Hospital, and who the court was told now runs a private practice in the city – pleaded guilty to eight counts of making indecent images. The court heard he accepted downloading 3,745 indecent pictures in total. He was forced to sign the sex offenders’ register after pleading guilty at a previous hearing, although it remains unclear for how long he will be on it. Imposing the sentence, Judge Carol Hagen told Dunn that, after reading an expert’s report about him, which concluded he had a “normal” sexual profile, she could take the unusual course of imposing the conditional discharge. James Bennett, prosecuting, said that in 2003, a firm based in Florida, called Connections, processed credit card transactions of people using websites and Dunn’s details were obtained. Mr Bennett said that in January, police searched his computer and found 3,398 images at category one – depicting children in erotic poses – and 347 images at category two – depicting sexual activity between children. Ignatius Hughes, defending, said: “Mr Dunn accepts he was sexually aroused by mid-to-late teenagers and post-pubescent girls” Jane Channing, from the Bristol-based White Ribbon group, which campaigns to get sex offenders out of the community, said she was “livid” to hear that Dunn had escaped with a conditional discharge. She said: “If he served a week for every picture that he downloaded, it wouldn’t be enough. “As a dentist, he has access to children and there will be no notice on the door saying: ‘I have a conviction for child pornography’. “A conditional discharge is not sending out the right message. I hope his patients will now veto his services.”