A Suffolk man will be sentenced next month after being convicted of importing a child-like sex doll which he bought online.

Dean Guest, of Shackeroo Road, Bury St Edmunds, appeared before magistrates in Ipswich on Tuesday to face trial on two charges after attempting to get the doll delivered to his home.

Magistrates heard how the sex doll was seized by Border Force officials at Stansted Airport on February 11 this year.

Elizabeth Traugott, prosecuting, told the court the doll was around 100cm tall, with light-coloured skin, well-developed breasts and anatomically correct female genitalia.

The court heard a witness statement from a Border Force officer at the UPS freight facility at Stansted Airport, who described opening a box which was labelled as being imported from Hong Kong.

Bury Mercury: The sex doll was seized at Stansted AirportThe sex doll was seized at Stansted Airport (Image: London Stansted Airport)

The package was addressed to Guest and the customs value was given as 110 US Dollars, the court heard.

Female hair pieces and clothing were also found in the box, and Border Force seized the doll.

In police interview, Guest admitted ordering the sex doll online by using a credit card but said he was told by the seller that they were legal in the UK.

Police officers then visited Guest's home on February 18, and he took a while to answer the door, Ms Traugott told the court.

Once officers gained entry, they found a damaged mobile phone in a cupboard, the court heard.

Guest is subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), which was imposed at Ipswich Crown Court following a previous conviction in 2017.

Ms Traugott claimed Guest damaged the phone before officers were able to examine it.

Guest, 41, denied breaching the SHPO and improperly importing goods to which a prohibition/restriction applies.

Ms Traugott said that because the doll was child-like, it was "indecent and obscene" and therefore banned.

Giving evidence from the witness box, Guest said he believed it to be an adult sex doll and said his phone had previously been damaged accidentally, which is why it was put away in a cupboard.

But magistrates found Guest guilty of both charges and ordered a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service.

Guest was granted conditional bail and will return to Suffolk Magistrates' Court on July 20 to be sentenced.