Douglas man walks free despite child sex conviction

Time served on remand covered sentence

A Douglas man's been given an eight-month prison term for a series of child sex offences – but has walked free this afternoon.

Twenty-seven-year-old Matthew James Dadds pleaded guilty to ten counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

He appeared before Deemster Alistair Montgomerie at Douglas courthouse on Tuesday.

The charge was brought about after a laptop containing 70 indecent images of children was discovered at Dadds’ address in the capital.

Three of the images were ranked as Level 5 on the COPINE scale with 44 regarded as Level 4 in the rating system.

Dadds admitted in court he had been looking at content of this nature since the age of 15.

He was issued with a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which means he’s not to purchase, lease, rent or borrow a device capable of accessing the internet without alerting the appropriate authorities.

Dadds was sentenced to eight months in prison but walked free as he'd already served that term whilst being remanded in custody.

His name has also been added to the Sex Offenders Register for five years.