Leeds school music teacher with ‘access to children’ caught with thousands of abuse images

The offences came to light when Donal Donnelly was being investigated for a separate offence, which did not result in prosecution.

There was no evidence to suggest the offences involved children that the 58-year-old taught at an unnamed school in north-west Leeds.

The freelance music teacher, who lives in Bradford, pleaded guilty and the case was sent to York Crown Court, where he was sentenced this week.

He faced three counts of downloading a total of 2,000-plus indecent images of children. Several were classed as category A – the most serious – and B while the rest were category C.

Donnelly was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and issue with a five-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to limit his internet use. He was also ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, he must undergo a rehabilitation course and was also ordered to pay costs of £425.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Nicky Wareham of Harrogate CID said: “This was a very concerning case, even more so considering Donnelly’s job which could mean regular, unsupervised access to dozens of children.

“While I would stress that the offences relate to images that were already in circulation, that doesn’t in any way detract from the gravity of this offence. Indecent images perpetuate child abuse and some of the photographs we encountered during the investigation were particularly disturbing.”