Derbyshire paedophile had horrifying child sex abuse images

Derby Crown Court heard how Luke Marriott was also watching vile films showing toddlers aged two-to-three years old.

Another involved two boys aged between 10 and 12 being sexually abused by adults.

The 21-year-old was also looking at disgusting videos showing women having sex with horses and dogs.

And Marriott, of Ripley, kept the images in a Dropbox account on the internet which, when he was asked about them by the police, admitted he was keeping them to share if anyone else wanted to see them.

Now he faces an anxious wait until the new year to see if he is jailed for his offending.

Adjourning his sentencing hearing until January 9, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “You cannot go away thinking that a custodial sentence will not be the case.

“This is a concerning case because of the nature of the images and because you have previous convictions of a similar nature.

“I am ordering a psychiatric assessment of you to give me some idea about your dangerousness.”

Christopher Eckersley, prosecuting, said the offences date back to 2015 and have taken this long to come to court as the Dropbox account Marriott used was held by a Californian firm.

It has taken considerable time for the American authorities to provide Derbyshire police with a report.

He said the National Crime Agency alerted the police that the Dropbox account contained indecent images and was linked to his email address.

They went to his home address on Nottingham Road, seized his devices and arrested him.

Mr Eckersley said: “Significantly, he told police that he kept the images just in case anyone he was talking to on the internet asked him for them.

“129 indecent images and movies were discovered which included 81 of (the most serious) category A.”

Mr Eckersley outlined some of the films and images that were found.

Most of these are too offensive to be described here.

He said they included a 54 second long movies of a six-month-old baby being sexually assaulted.

Mr Eckersley said while under investigation for these offences, police seized Marriott’s mobile phone in July of last year and it again contained four further vile child abuse images of category C, the least serious.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of making indecent images and has a previous conviction for the same offence dating back to 2014, when he was 15.

Joe Harvey, mitigating, said: “I would ask for a pre-sentence report and I think a psychological report would also be helpful.

“As a result of this offending and through the support of his family, Mr Marriott is engaging with psychotherapy.”

An NSPCC spokesman said: “The children in the images and videos that Marriott downloaded have been subjected to horrific abuse that can destroy childhoods, with the effects potentially lasting a lifetime.

“This is an industry where children are abused to order and individuals such as Marriott fuel it every time they download such material.

“The internet is being used as a gateway to child abuse far too frequently and the NSPCC is calling for providers to take greater responsibility for what’s shared on their platforms and cut off this vile material at source.”

Anyone concerned about a child can call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.

Children and young people can contact Childline free and confidentially on 0800 1111 or via www.childline.org.uk

- This story first appeared on Derbyshire Live.