John Morrell, a Newark Paedophile, contacted the police to admit to years of abuse against two young children, mere minutes after refuting the allegations in a formal interview.
John Morrell, 73 years old, was apprehended by Nottinghamshire Police following a disclosure made by one of his victims to a school acquaintance of his misconduct.
A teacher notified the police, prompting specialist child abuse detectives to initiate a criminal inquiry.
John Morrell systematically assaulted the girls for several years until being apprehended in March 2021.
At his initial police interview at Mansfield Police Station he denied all the allegations against him and suggested they were being made up.
Shortly after the interview had finished he left a message with detectives asking them to call him back.
John Morrell then told them that the allegations were true and later admitted to multiple offences in a second interview.
A forensic examination of his personal computer also uncovered hundreds of child sexual abuse images – some of them depicting the most serious acts of abuse.
Further examination of his internet browsing history confirmed that John Morrell had a clear sexual interest in children.
John Morrell later pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and three counts of making an indecent image of a child. The indecent image offences relate to the storage of images on his computer.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (6 June), John Morrell, of Milner Street, Newark, was jailed for eight years and added to the sex offenders’ register for life.
John Morrell was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order that will closely restrict his future behaviour and access to children once he is released from prison.
Detective Constable Alan Braisby of Nottinghamshire Police’s child abuse investigation unit said: “John Morrell was responsible for an appalling catalogue of abuse over a sustained period of time.
“When this abuse started his victims were simply too young to understand what was happening to them. As they got older they realised that what had happened was wrong and the truth was revealed.
“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of children, so when cases like are reported to us we will take them seriously, we will follow the evidence and we will do whatever it takes to bring offenders to justice.”
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