February 2016

Cabinet Office worker caught with 1000’s of child abuse images – Avoids prison

A former civil servant who recorded a boy of 14 posing naked on webcam has been spared jail after volunteering himself for child abuse prevention research.

David Merritt, 39, also sent graphic pictures of himself to the schoolboy while grooming him for more than a year over Skype.

Merritt, who worked as a in the Cabinet Office Corporate Strategy Unit for more than a year, also had a library of more than 12,500 indecent images of child abuse and distributed some of them online, Southwark Crown Court heard.

But Judge Anthony Pitts decided not to send him to prison after being told he had learnt his lesson and cooperated with police.

Merritt has also volunteered himself for research to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse.

Judge Pitts told him: “You are obviously an intelligent, capable individual and fully aware of your situation and the seriousness of the matters you have been charged with and pleaded guilty to.

“It seems to me behaving as well as you could in the circumstances by co-operating with the police, allowing your computer and memory sticks and things of that kind and not trying to hide them and being very forthright in your co-operation.

“It is apparent that the boy was being groomed and had been groomed by other adult males.

“Even when you heard from him that he was 14 you still continued with what has been described as graphic discussions and role play.

“I know you understand because of the way you reacted to it and the steps that you have taken.”

The judge said he had read a letter from Merritt’s parents as well as a note written by Merritt for his barrister entitled ‘Lessons Learnt’.

Judge Pitts, addressing Merritt, said: “I have found this, Mr Merritt, a difficult case but having heard what I have heard and read what I have read I am going to pass custodial sentences but I am going to suspend them.

“It seems to me that I can just do that in this case.”

The judge sentenced Merritt to two years imprisonment suspended for two years on each of the 15 counts he admitted.

Robin Miric, prosecuting, told the court that Merritt used the name ‘Karl Burnham’ and claimed to be 25 while chatting to the boy ‘C’.

The barrister said: “It came to the attention of the police that a child had been the victim of online grooming.

“C was, at the time, a 14-year-old boy from North Yorkshire. He was groomed by various persons on Skype.

“The contact started on 3 April 2013 with a message being sent from C to the defendant say hi.

“Then there was regular contact – initially discussing with C their respective sexualities.

“This enabled C to become more confident and there was a request to send images of their respective genitalia which eventually did happen.

“During the communication the child complainant was encouraged to engage in sexual activity on camera on webcam and that did actually take place.

“A point was reached where the complainant admitted he was 14. He continued to ask C to reveal himself in various poses in front of the webcam.”

The pair never met although they did discuss what they could do if they did.

Merritt was arrested on 2 December 2014 and told police where he was storing the child abuse images.

Of the total of 12,578 indecent images found, more than 3,000 were of the most serious category.

Defence said that Merritt has recently got a new job and his employers were willing to stand by him if he avoided a prison sentence.

Merritt, of Dora Road, Wimbledon, admitted 12 counts of making indecent images of a child, one count of distributing indecent images of a child, possessing extreme pornographic images and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

He has been sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years and his name has been added to the sex offenders register.