A convicted child rapist was caught looking at disgusting sex abuse material within weeks of his release from prison.

Barri Speller tried to persuade police officers that he’d been trying to test the limits of what he was able to find on Google.

But internet history showed he’d also used his brand new smartphone to trawl pornographic sites for images of school-age boys and girls.

Jailing him for two years and eight months and ordering he serve an extended four years on licence, Judge Maria Lamb told Speller she was ‘completely satisfied’ that he presented a serious risk of harm to the public.

“Within weeks of your release from a sentence of imprisonment in February 2021, you were found in possession of a series of indecent images of children, the most serious of which – category A – numbered 16,” she said.

“Whilst it is right to say that they are not the excessive numbers that sometimes are seen by these courts, the possession of any of these sorts of images – indecent images of children – amount to grave offences.

“And that is all the more so in light of somebody who has the previous convictions which you do.”

Oxford Crown Court heard Speller, 44, was convicted at a Basildon court in 1997 of indecent assault on a 14-year-old boy.

Seven years later, in 2004, he received a total extended sentence of 17 years for raping a girl and indecent assault of a girl under-14. In 2012, he was jailed for 20 months at Oxford Crown Court for possession of indecent images.

He was released from custody in February 2021 and sent to live in temporary accommodation in Oxford. His offender manager – a police officer – explained to him the terms of an earlier court order aimed at limiting his access to the internet.

Speller asked the police for permission for his brother to send him a smartphone. The request was granted and police installed specialist software on the phone to monitor his web use. His officer, concerned about the type of material he was looking at, visited him in March and gave him a formal warning.

The software was disabled by the defendant, who’d searched pornographic websites for images of boys and girls aged 10 and 12.

In interview, Speller claimed he’d been testing the boundaries of Google. On his phone were found 16 images in category A, showing assaults on children as young as 12, there were 20 images in category B and 14 in category C.

Barri Spellers police mugshot Picture: THAMES VALLEY POLICE

Barri Speller's police mugshot Picture: THAMES VALLEY POLICE

Barri Speller's mugshot Picture: TVP

Emma Hornby, mitigating, said her client had spent the bulk of his adult life in prison and had become institutionalised. He had been at a ‘low ebb’ when he committed the offences. “This is a man who’s been in prison for the majority of his life and clearly that isn’t working. He requires help and support and intervention.”

Speller, of Linacre Close, Didcot, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession of indecent images of children. He will serve two thirds of his two year and eight month sentence in custody before he is eligible for release on licence.

He will be on the sex offender register for life and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order that will last indefinitely.

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