Former Wakefield assistant headteacher Gareth Mellor avoids jail for accessing thousands of indecent child images

Gareth Mellor was given a suspended sentence and ordered to go on a sex offender treatment programme over his conduct.

Mellor, 43, was a senior member of staff in charge of safeguarding at Kettlethorpe High School during the seven years he committed the offences.

None of the offences relate to any children at the council-maintained school.

Leeds Crown Court heard today (Thursday) that Mellor was arrested after he came to the attention of officers from the National Crime Agency’s child exploitation and online protection team.

Jessica Lister, prosecuting, said Mellor made Bitcoin payments for indecent images of children via an encrypted cloud storage service.

E-mail addresses were linked to the defendant and officers executed a search warrant at his home in May 2021.

The court heard Mellor was not at home at the time but his wife and children were there.

The officers went to his workplace but he was not there either.

Mellor returned home later that day and handed over a mobile phone as he was arrested.

He told officers that he had deleted images from his online account.

Ms Lister said officers managed to recover a “significant amount” of illegal material despite Mellor’s attempts to get rid of evidence.

They found 520 still and moving images at category A – the most serious level of offending.

A total of 619 were category B and 10,450 were category C.

The majority of the images were of females aged 12 and over but some were as young at eight.

The offending took place between 2014 to 2021.

Mellor was suspended from his job after being arrested and officially dismissed in December 2021.

He initially refused to comment when interviewed by police.

He later told officers he had intended to buy legal pornography but accepted some of the images were illegal and he had viewed them.

Mellor said he had a sexual interest in females aged 18 to 21.

The defendant also said he had been blackmailed by the person he bought the images from and had paid them between £1,500 and £2,000.

Mellor went on to tell officers that he had searched social media for females he had taught but said it was “not in a sexual way.”

Mellor, now of Pennycroft Road, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent child images.

Robert English, mitigating, said Mellor has no previous convictions, had pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage and had co-operated with the police.

Mr English said his client had not offended since his arrest and had attended a programme designed to prevent him re-offending.

He urged Judge Penelope Belcher to consider suspending any prison sentence so the defendant could continue to receive treatment.

The court heard Mellor had been working as a forklift truck driver but was sacked following media coverage of a court hearing in November when he pleaded guilty to the offences.

The barrister continued: “I do not think he can have any complaint about that, but it did expose him to a considerable amount of opprobrium.

“He is ashamed and he is genuinely remorseful.

“His reputation has been destroyed very publicly.

“His friends have deserted him, he has lost his job and he is getting divorced.”

Mellor was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was ordered to complete a 43-day sex offender treatment programme and made the subject of a rehabilitation activity requirement programme.

Mellor was placed on the sex offender register for ten years and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Belcher said she considered the sentence to be the best way of protecting the public from further offences by Mellor.

She told him: “Children are abused because people are willing to pay for them, as you have done here.

“So don’t kid yourself that sitting in a room looking at this is not abusing children – it undoubtedly is.”

The judge added: “You stated that you browsed social media looking for some of the students you taught, although you denied that was in a sexual way.

“It is hard to see what other way, or why there would be any reason for searching social media looking for some of your own students.

“However, there is no charge in relation to that.

“It is simply something that I am told is a matter of considerable concern.”