Sleaford man denies 36 charges of making indecent images of a child

A Sleaford man was found to have a 'vast quantity' of pornography after police searched his home, a jury was told today (Tuesday).
Ian Dolby. EMN-170815-165603001Ian Dolby. EMN-170815-165603001
Ian Dolby. EMN-170815-165603001

Ian Dolby, 52, of North Road, Sleaford, was described to the jury at Lincoln Crown Court as having “a rapacious interest” in downloading pornography from the internet after police found over 700 computer disks containing porn images at his home in Sleaford.

Martin Hurst, prosecuting, told the jury that 45 of the disks contained images of illegal child pornography.

The images had been burned onto the disks using a lap top, said Mr Hurst.

The police search carried out in December 2013 followed the arrest of Dolby’s then lodger over a completely unconnected matter.

Mr Hurst alleged that officers who initially went to the property discovered photographs of unclothed young girls on the walls and folders containing photographs of young girls.

As a result CID officers were asked to attend and a detailed search was carried out.

Mr Hurst said: “They searched the whole house. They searched in particular Dolby’s bedroom and took away quite a lot of things principally electronic devices including a lap top.

“Also in his bedroom they found a very, very substantial library of DVD disks.

“These were DVDs he had made at home. He had burned them from websites he had been visiting on the internet.”

Mr Hurst alleged that 45 of the DVDs contained around 180 hours of film of child pornography including 46 hours of the worst category.

He told the jury: “They contained some of the most offensive material that you can imagine. The 45 DVDs contained principally or exclusively indecent images of children. The other 687 were dip-tested. There was a vast quantity of adult pornography.

“When asked if there were any indecent images of children on his lap top he said there was a possibility something may have been downloaded accidentally.”

The court was told that when Dolby was interviewed he said he tried to make sure that the images he viewed were of girls over the age of 18.

Mr Hurst said: “He made it perfectly clear that he has an interest in looking at sexual pictures of young women. He revealed a rapacious interest in downloading pornography. When he sees something he likes he burns it onto a DVD.”

Police returned to Dolby’s home in May 2016 to re-arrest him and charge him for the 2013 matters, the court was told.

They took away two Samsung tablets which were found to contain over 350 indecent images of children, said Mr Hurst.

Mr Hurst told the jury: “The prosecution say that when you have heard all of the evidence you will be absolutely confident that this man is a paedophile and that is why he has downloaded this and burned it and stored it.”

Ian Dolby denies 36 charges of making an indecent image of a child.

○ The trial continues.