NEWPORT PAEDOPHILE CAUGHT RED-HANDED WITH CHILDLIKE SEX DOLL
A paedophile was caught with a childlike sex doll and baby rape videos after police acted on a tip-off.Scott Mullen, aged 32, of Swallow Way, Duffryn, Newport was handed an eight-year extended sentence after he was classified as a dangerous offender.
Joshua Scouller, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court how the defendant had initially admitted downloading 136 child abuse films and photographs.
He had 23 at category A indecent images, the most serious kind, 18 at category B and 95 at category C between July 14, 2024 and August 18, 2024.
The defendant then applied to vacate his guilty pleas and, when representing himself, he presented a bogus report to the court from a legitimate company that undertakes digital and cyber investigations.
Using this firm’s logo on a letter, he claimed that they had stated that it was possible that Mullen was innocent and that he might not have downloaded the material deliberately.
His lie was soon uncovered and he pleaded guilty to committing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice last June.
Mullen was already a convicted sex offender who was handed a community order in 2017 for having indecent images of children.
His barrister Jon Tarrant said in mitigation: “The defendant does accept that there are issues here.” Judge Geraint Walters told Mullen of the child abuse images he had stored: “These are real children being abused by sick adults.” He added: “Your pre-sentence report makes for depressing reading.
It comes to the inevitable conclusion that you are a dangerous offender and that you present a high risk of committing further serious offences.” The defendant’s attempt to pull the wool over the court’s eyes was “planned and sophisticated”.
Mullen was jailed for three years plus an extended licence period of five years following his release.
He will have to register as a sex offender for life and he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life.
