February 2004

Scout leader jailed for abusing boys

Detectives believe a scout master who filmed himself sexually abusing three boys may have committed more crimes against vulnerable young children.

Graham Marriott, 39, of Sandpiper Lane, Wellingborough, was jailed for six years at Northampton Crown Court 

Police raided his home in August last year after officers in London investigating a suspected paedophile ring discovered a dozen images Marriott had created and distributed.

They found more than 1,436 child porn images as well as a three-hour video which showed Marriott abusing several boys. Two of the victims were traced by police but they were unable to identify the others.

Judge Thomas Corrie told Marriott: “What you did was for your own perverted purposes over quite a long period when you groomed and sexually abused these boys.

“Not content with doing these terrible things, you recorded them and with some of these images, you sent them on to a fellow pervert.

“It is perfectly clear you are sexually obsessed with young boys and downloaded images from the internet to fuel your fantasies and act them out.”

Simon Carr, prosecuting, said Marriott preyed on boys within the scout movement, befriending them and then sexually abusing them.

The court heard he would tie up and blindfold his victims before filming them being molested.

Matthew Lowe, for Marriott, said: “It goes without saying that Marriott has pleaded guilty to the most appalling crimes which he recognises come with a custodial sentence of some length.”

Marriott was put on the Sex Offenders Register for life and banned from working with children again.

He admitted one charge of gross indecency, five of indecent assault, and 16 charges relating to child sexual abuse images

A video  found at Marriott’s home led police to discover the extent of his crimes against young boys.

It soon became clear how he had used his position as a scout master to target, groom and abuse boys in his care as well as create child sexual abuse images to send to other paedophiles.

Head of Northamptonshire Police child protection unit Det Insp Chris Few said: “We are satisfied with the sentence which reflects the extreme seriousness of these offences.

“They came to light after the Metropolitan Police raided a man’s home in London last year and found evidence of him trading indecent images of young boys over the internet to a paedophile ring which included Marriott.

“It later transpired that Marriott was making the indecent images of a boy he was abusing.