College welfare officer and young person's football coach who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children.

College Welfare Officer and Football Coach Jailed for Child Pornography

A college welfare officer and young person's football coach who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children has been jailed.

Daniel Dawson, 36, of Darcy Lever, Bolton, pleaded guilty to 19 offences of possessing and making indecent images of children. At Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Dawson was also given a sexual offences prevention order and required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Police stated that Dawson was apprehended in April following an international investigation into an online retailer based in Canada that sold child pornography and indecent images of children.

When warrants were executed at the Canadian premises, customers from around the world were identified, and cases were transferred to the relevant police forces. Greater Manchester Police raided Dawson's home, seizing computers, media storage devices, and recovering a total of 1.5 million images.

A computer specialist sampled over 15,000 of these images and identified more than 6,500 indecent images of children aged 6 to 14 years old. Due to the vast volume of indecent images, the specialist could not examine all the pictures.

Officers also found evidence that Dawson repeatedly searched the internet for indecent images of children.

At the time of his arrest, Dawson was employed as a welfare officer at Glossopdale Community College in Derbyshire and coached at Middleton Lads and Girls FC. He was immediately suspended from both roles following the initial police involvement.

Dawson had previously held similar positions in other schools across the region. Police confirmed there was no evidence to suggest Dawson committed any offences against the children he encountered in his professional capacity.