JOHN MERRETT

BARNOLDSWICK PENSIONER AVOIDS JAIL AFTER DISGUSTING CHILD ABUSE IMAGE SEARCHES

A PENSIONER who made “thoroughly disgusting” internet searches for indecent images of children – including drugging children and rape – has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

But a judge told 77-year-old John Merrett: “You have lost your good name, and you will never get it back.

“You are and will always now be a convicted sex offender, and that is something that you have to live with.” Bradford Crown Court heard that Merrett, of Wellington Street, Barnoldswick, owned more than 100 electronic devices.

Prosecutor David McGonigal said Merrett was reported to police in the summer of 2024 after his partner raised concerns about the number of machines he had and asked her son to check them.

He discovered that they contained illegal images of children and contacted the police.

When police searched Merrett’s home, they seized items including a USB and a desktop computer, which were found to contain indecent images.

In total, officers found 401 photographs, of which 76 were in Category A, the most serious, as well as 117 prohibited images of children.

They discovered that Merrett had also searched for illegal material involving children and websites about child drugging and rape.

Merrett, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images and one of making prohibited images of children.

Mitigating for Merrett, Ella Embleton said he needed direct intervention to manage the risk he posed and invited the court to impose a suspended sentence.

She said he had some insight into his offending and had been “frank” in his admissions.

Sentencing Merrett to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years and imposing a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, Miss Recorder Catherine Silverton said: “You had over a hundred devices of which the police downloaded material from five.

The devices also contained an internet search history and documents with links to websites about things such as child drugging and rape.

I have seen a document containing some of the search terms you put in, and they are thoroughly disgusting.” She added: “Some people make the mistake of thinking that offending like this is committing a victimless crime.

It is not a victimless crime.

Real children are abused for photographs to be taken.

The impact of that lasts a lifetime.

And without people like you providing a market for these disgusting images, those children may not be abused.

It’s important you can understand that, and it’s important you understand that you, and people like you – people who view these images – cause real, lifelong harm to children.” Recorder Silverton said there was strong evidence that people in Merrett’s position who received appropriate treatment did not re-offend and opted to suspend his prison sentence.

He was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work, to undertake 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and to pay £500 towards court costs.

He will have to register as a sex offender.

Merrett’s electronic devices were ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.