AUSTIN RICKERBY OF BLYTH SENTENCED FOR CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AND SEXUAL COMMUNICATIONS
Austin Rickerby, of Blyth, admitted to charges involving sexual communication with a child and possession of indecent images.A married father who paid a schoolgirl to meet him and requested a photograph of her feet possessed disturbing child abuse images on his electronic devices.
Rickerby had created a profile on a website under the name "mystical gentleman," aiming to meet adults for sex.
However, one of his contacts turned out to be only 14 years old.
Despite this, he persisted in engaging in sexual conversations with her and met her on three occasions, though no sexual activity is reported to have occurred.
Police seized various devices from Rickerby's home in Blyth, Northumberland, and discovered he had downloaded dozens of indecent images.
It appeared he had organized these images based on the ages of the children depicted.
The court heard that the offences came to light after police were concerned for the welfare of the 14-year-old girl, who had initially claimed to be 18 but later said she was 16 and then 14.
During their investigation, officers visited Rickerby's home in August 2018 and found indecent images of children aged between 6 and 17 on multiple devices.
They also uncovered Google searches for terms such as "pre teen cartoons" and "you tube paedo." A WhatsApp chat between Rickerby and the girl was recovered, in which he stated, "it made no difference to him if she was 14 or 15," despite her confirming she was 14.
Prosecutor Nick Adlington explained, "He continued to communicate with her and received a number of pictures from her and had a sexual conversation.
He asked if she would participate in a foot fetish.
He asked for a picture of her feet.
He met her three times." Rickerby, 43, pleaded guilty to charges of sexual communication with a child, three counts of making indecent images of a child, possession of extreme pornography, and possession of prohibited images.
The court determined he possessed 70 Category A images, 23 Category B, 93 Category C, 15 extreme pornography images, and 23 prohibited images.
He claimed to police that he had ordered adult DVDs via a newspaper, later realizing some contained indecent images and intending to surrender them to authorities, but he was arrested before doing so.
He also stated his interest in animation and that he had viewed cartoon material without knowing it was illegal.
The illegal images were stored across multiple devices, including his work laptop and his wife’s computer.
The images were organized in folders labeled "5-6" and "8-12," which, according to Mr.
Adlington, matched the ages of the children depicted—suggesting he catalogued the images by age.
Rickerby, of John Street, Blyth, was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment suspended for 18 months, with a three-month curfew and ordered to pay £500 in costs.
He will be registered as a sex offender for ten years and subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years.
In sentencing, Recorder Carl Gumsley remarked, "You have a good job, a family, a child, no issues with money or substances, and it would be difficult for many to understand what on earth led you to get involved in these matters."
