IT has been confirmed that a body found in a car just before Christmas was a former Kenilworth man who had been due to appear in court for downloading indecent images of children.
David Dent had pleaded guilty in early December to three charges of making indecent still and moving images of children in all three categories of seriousness.
Warwickshire magistrates heard the images, downloaded in Kenilworth, where he was living at the time.
All 307 images had been downloaded between December 2016 and April 2018, the magistrates were told.
They committed the case to Warwick Crown Court where 65-year-old Dent, of Nene Close, Ernesford Grange, Coventry, had been due to be sentenced on December 23.
But Dent, who had been on bail, failed to turn up for that hearing.
And prosecutor Ian Windridge revealed a body of a man believed to be Dent was found in a car having taken his own life.
He asked for the case to be adjourned for the police to make ‘certain enquiries’ to establish it was Dent.
Adjourning the case on that occasion, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said: “The court understands, and the court feels it acutely as well, that this is likely to have been a very distressing time for this man – 65, married, and the world fell in.
“The court extends its sympathy. It is terribly, terribly sad that he is driven to this [because] there is always hope.”
At the resumed hearing, Mr Windridge said it had been confirmed the body was that of Dent.
So Judge Peter Cooke ordered the court file on the case should be marked ‘no further action.’