Man and woman in their 60s admit conspiring to take indecent child images

Colin Dawson, 61, from Merridale, and Annette Punter, 65, from East Park, were jailed after admitting to conspiring to take indecent images of children, with one of the sentences suspended.

It comes after investigators identified the home of 61-year-old Dawson as being linked to online chats referring to child abuse.

Dawson, a convicted sex offender, was arrested and on searching his home in the Merridale area of Wolverhampton, officers seized mobile phones and a laptop.

Both items were analysed by digital forensic experts which revealed the laptop had on it an app for searching the dark web.

Police discovered hundreds of vile messages on the devices between Dawson and Annette Punter, cataloguing their exchanges about young girls.

Indecent images, containing children aged between four and 13 years old were also found on Dawson's laptop as well as his mobile.

Punter claimed in police interviews that she had been manipulated by Dawson, with whom she was in a relationship at the time. However, she later pleaded guilty to the offences at a court hearing on May 10, as did Dawson.

Dawson and Punter both admitted to conspiring to take indecent images of children between November 9 and November 19 , 2018.

Dawson also admitted making a total of 44 indecent images at various dates between 4 November 2018 and 7 July 2020.

Punter admitted taking and distributing indecent images of children between 2 and 5 November 2018, and possession of extreme pornography on 5 March 2021.

On Friday at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Dawson was jailed for two years and two months and will remain on the sex offenders' register for life.

Punter was given a 20-month jail term, suspended for two years and she will remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years.