Published date: 22 August 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
Sentencing guidelines and the law tied the hands of a judge in dealing with a man with “a perverted interest in young children.”
Darrell Mercer ,30, of Water Street, Abergele, pleaded guilty to six charges involving the downloading of child porn - including one image of a baby which Recorder Huw Rees described as “truly shocking in its depravity.”
When arrested last month Mercer was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of a four-year- sentence imposed in 2013 for assault to commit a sex offence and causing actual bodily harm to a ten year old girl he grabbed around the neck when he crept into her bedroom.
He’s due for release next April but Recorder Rees said at Caernarfon crown court any sentence he imposed had to count from the present rather than take effect in April.
In 2002 he’d faced six charges of indecent assault against a child of nine and the judge said it was “a very concerning case.” Because of the law he could not consider the aspect of dangerousness before passing sentence.
“It’s a difficult sentencing exercise and I cannot treat this defendant in the way that at first blush I would want to,” he commented on Friday
He jailed Mercer for a year, with a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning any unsuperviosed contact with a xchild under 16, and he will not be able to stay in a house with a child under 16 without the approval of social services.
Mercer must sign the register as a sex offender for seven uyears.
Kim Halsall, prosecuting, said 50 images had been involved in all, one of them of Class A, the most serious, involving the baby.
Defence barrister Michael Whitty said : “He’s a man who has spent a lot of the last few years in custody. He wants to move on with a fresh start.”
- http://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/165788/abergele-man-pleads-guilty-to-six-charges-of-downloading-child-pornography.aspx
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