Ex-BBC man with 58,000 child abuse images jailed

David Mundy's offending started before he retired in 1998 and spanned two decades, police said

A retired BBC sound engineer has been jailed for 10 months after he was found to have more than 58,000 indecent images of children.

David Mundy, 85, of Esher, admitted three offences relating to indecent images of children at Guildford Crown Court.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said his offending covered two decades and he had accessed illegal content involving children as young as six years old.

About 2,500 images found on his devices were Category A, the most extreme, officers said.

When interviewed, Mundy admitted to first looking at sexual images of children shortly before retiring from the BBC in 1998.

He was arrested in 2022 after attempting to download illegal content and charged last year.

‘Violated and abused’

He had claimed he was unsure of the definition of abuse and argued his interest was “in pleasure”, police said.

But NCA senior manager Adam Priestly said after sentencing: “Despite clear evidence showing the scale of his offending, and the horrific nature of the content he repeatedly accessed, Mundy told officers that the images he had saved simply showed kids enjoying themselves.

“This could not be further from the truth.

"Behind each image is a vulnerable child who has been violated and abused for the benefit of offenders like Mundy.”

Officers seized 47 digital storage devices at his home.

Police said Mundy stored thousands of images on floppy discs, CDs, USBs and hard drives.

Some content involved children as young as six, but most involved boys aged between eight and 15, police said.

The NCA said Mundy obtained material on a peer-to-peer sharing system but said he did not communicate with other group members.

Police said they found a booklet headed “sensitive content movies” and how-to guides on accessing the dark web and ensuring anonymity, but Mundy claimed he had yet to use them.

He admitted offences relating to 51,036 Category C images, 4,584 Category B images and 2,522 Category A images.

He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years, given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and deprivation order and ordered to pay a £156 victim surcharge.