A former House of Keys candidate who was caught with indecent images of children has been handed a suspended sentence.

David Anthony Fowler admitted the offences as well as importing a child-like sex doll to the island.

The 55-year-old was sentenced to 20 weeks custody, suspended for two years, and also put on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.

Fowler was also made the subject of a two-year suspended sentence supervision order and a two-year probation order.

He was also given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which will run until further notice.

This will place him under computer restrictions, as well as putting restrictions on where he can go in relation to children.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood told Fowler: ‘It is clear from the offences and reports that you do have a sexual interest in children.  

‘You seek to minimise this and that is of particular concern to probation and to me.

‘Images of children are not merely photos.

‘Behind every image lies an abused child.’

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that police had executed a search warrant at Fowler’s Onchan home on May 19.

Devices were seized and printed photos were found, as well as a child-like sex doll, estimated to represent a child aged three to four years.

Underwear for ages nine to 10 years was also found, along with a girl’s school uniform.

In total 45 printed images were found and categorised using the Copine Scale, which measures the severity of images from one to five, with level five being the most severe.

Forty-four of the images were assessed at level one and one at level two.

DVDs were also found which included naked children dancing.

Another DVD was said to feature footage that appeared to have been taken from a bush, of a young girl in school uniform.

Mr Swain said that the DVDs did not form part of the charges but gave an indication of the defendant’s interests.

Printed photos, which were the subject of the charges, were said to feature naked girls aged between seven and 10 in one, and girls aged nine to 11 in school uniform in another.

Mr Swain said that other photos featured naked children aged between 12 and 14 and 14 and 15, which also involved them touching each other.

When interviewed by police, Fowler admitted possessing the photos, but claimed that they were of girls who all looked older and of legal age.

The court heard that the defendant has no previous convictions.

Fowler, who now lives at Victoria Road in Douglas, ran for MHK in the constituency of Middle in 2021 but finished last of five candidates with 163 votes.

He also stood for election in 2016, in Douglas South, but again finished last of four candidates with 296 votes.

Defence advocate Paul Glover asked for credit to be given for his client’s guilty pleas and said that there had been a relatively low number of images, all at the lower end of the severity scale.

Mr Glover said that this had not been the usual type of this offence, as none of the images had been obtained using the dark web, they had all been printed copies, and that Fowler said he had only used Google search.

‘His understanding is rather naive when it comes to the internet and the role Google plays,’ said the advocate.

‘Anything on Google, in essence he thought they would be responsible, so any images would be legal.

‘It was a grave misunderstanding, but he accepts possessing and searching for them.’

A psychiatric report said that Fowler suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome and likely Autism Spectrum Disorder, which contributed to the offending.

The report said it was essential for work to be done with him to reduce his risk of reoffending in the future.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood said that, under current legislation, the postal offence was non-imprisonable in summary court.

Ms Braidwood said that the orders made would ensure that work could be done with Fowler via multiple agencies under close supervision, which would reduce his risk of reoffending.

He was also ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs by February 1.