A man has appeared in court charged after he tried to import a child sex doll from China.
Avon and Somerset police brought the charge against Sean Julian Doel in relation to an investigation that has been running for nearly a year.
Border Force officials seized a package containing the doll, which had been sent from China to Doel’s home in Bridgwater.
The 45-year-old was charged with one count of improperly importing goods to which a prohibition or restriction applies, under Section 50 of the Customs and Excise Management Act of 1979.
Doel was appearing in Taunton Crown Court on Monday, Mach 5.
Child sex dolls have been highly controversial since they were created in the Far East by manufacturers developing extremely lifelike ‘sex robot’ dolls.
Last month, Amazon were put on a ‘Dirty Dozen List’ by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation in the US for allowing sex dolls, ‘many with child-like features’, to be sold on its site.
In the UK, the authorities seized 128 child sex dolls in 2017, as they are banned.
