76-year-old Victor Melleney, a retired BBC producer, was caught with 832 indecent images of children stored on a range of devices.
Melleney, who worked on top shows such as Question Time and Panorama, was spared jail time Friday after a judge decided a prison sentence would be “particularly challenging” for the septuagenarian in “poor health.”
Melleney admitted he is addicted to legal pornography, but maintained he had no interest in indecent images of children, the Kingston Crown Court heard.
According to the Daily Mail, when Melleney was arrested in 2018 at his west London home, National Crime Agency officers found 612 of the 832 images on a hard drive, but he insisted he had no idea how the illegal material got there.
The officers also found illegal stun guns at the time belonging to Melleney, and he admitted to four charges of possession of prohibited weapons for discharge of noxious gas, namely three Tasers and CS gas spray, at an earlier hearing.
Hellbound and Down 