A former vicar has been sentenced to four years in prison for downloading indecent images of children, marking his fourth conviction for similar offences. Paul Battersby, 62, was found with 832 images on his devices, some depicting girls as young as two and adults engaging in sexual acts with animals.
Police discovered the material during an unannounced visit to his home in Skipton, North Yorkshire, last October. The visit was part of routine checks following his 2017 conviction, when officers found a shoebox full of children's clothing and 1,730 indecent images at his Liverpool flat.
York Crown Court heard that Battersby had attempted to wipe his computer using software, but investigators recovered evidence of searches for young and pre-pubescent girls. Judge Simon Hickey described him as a 'dangerous offender' and imposed a four-year prison term with an extended licence of three years.
Battersby, who served as a vicar for 31 years across northern England, has a history of offending dating back to 2007. His first conviction came after his wife reported him to police when his stepson discovered indecent images on his computer. He was jailed in 2010 for 12 months after 160 obscene images were found on a laptop used for church missionary work.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, possession of prohibited images, possession of extreme pornography, and breaching a sexual harm prevention order. In mitigation, his barrister Helen Chapman said Battersby was 'desperate to change' and understood he was perpetuating child abuse.
In addition to his prison sentence, Battersby was made subject to a new sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
