Body found in a car was former Kenilworth man who was due to be sentenced 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, had included 130 in category A.

There were 67 category B images of children and 110 in category C.

All of the images had been downloaded between December 2016 and April 2018, the magistrates were told.

They committed the case to Warwick Crown Court where Dent (65) of 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: “Mr Dent, or a person believed to be Mr Dent, was found in a car this morning, having taken his own life.”

He asked for the case to be adjourned until this month for the police to make ‘certain enquiries’ to establish whether the body was in fact that of David 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 that the body found in the car was that of Dent.

He told Judge Peter Cooke: “An interim death certificate has been received. We do accept Mr Dent is no longer with us.”

So Judge Cooke ordered that the court file on the case should be marked ‘no further action.’