A paedophile who kept a diary in which he named children he hoped to rape “someday very soon” has been jailed.
Gerrard Charnley declared in the twisted notebook that he was “proud to be a p@edophile” while writing in awful detail about his filthy fantasies.
The 52-year-old penned in his “My P@edophile Diary” the names of the children he wanted to r@pe, as well as the dates he planned to carry out the attacks.
He also downloaded “p@edophile manuals” labelled “The P@edophile’s Handbook” and “How to Practice Child Love,” which included tips and guidance on child abuse.
Charnley wrote in one frightening entry from June 2019: “I want to r@pe [girl’s name] someday very soon.” I am delighted to express this as a paedophile.”
Officers discovered the secret memoir when they raided his home in Coronation Drive, Widnes, on February 27, 2024, and seized 12 electronic devices.
Charnley had downloaded so many child abuse images and films that the authorities were unable to total them.
He appeared this week at Liverpool Crown Court, where he was sentenced to 14 months in prison and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Charnley was also instructed to sign the sex offenders’ register for the following decade.
When told he was going to prison, he nodded and said to the judge as he exited the dock, “I’m guilty. I’m sorry. Okay.
According to prosecutor Sarah Holt, one of the documents recovered on his devices was headed “My P@edophile Diary,” which “contained references to specific dates and what the defendant wanted to do to particular children.”
This diary also included a list of Charnley’s favourite websites for seeing indecent photographs of minors, as well as a list titled “preteen s**gs I’d love to rape”. Other Word documents and PDF files he had prepared included “P@edo Thoughts 2019.”.
Meanwhile, he was discovered to have used his laptop to access the dark web, and his browser included bookmarks for sites branded “p@edo links,” “naughty kids,” and “little girls.”
Charnley’s VLC Media Player app history on his Samsung Galaxy tablet also revealed that he had watched films with titles “indicative of material containing child abuse.”.
Charnley was also discovered to have collected a total of 15,081 images and 2,308 videos classified as category A, which depicts the most extreme kinds of abuse.
These included pictures of babies being raped.
He also downloaded 17,383 Category B photographs, 169,968 Category C images, nine computer-generated banned images of children, and nine extreme pornographic images.
Because of the enormous content on his devices, the authorities could not categorise almost 230,000 additional photographs.
Charnley stated in an interview that he “remembered downloading documents such as a p@edophile manual, but thought he had deleted it without reading it.”
Myles Wilson, defending, told the court that after his arrest, his client contacted Stop It Now, a charity that seeks to prevent child sexual abuse, and suffers from “poor physical and mental health.”.
He continued, “He helps his elderly father, who has mobility challenges and rarely leaves the house. The defendant performs his father’s shopping.
“He had developed an obsession with this type of information, nearly a habit. He admitted to the cops that he has problems and that he likes youngsters.
“He does not want to be in this situation in the future. He was relieved, he says to me, when he was detained because he knew this chapter of his life was ending.
Charnley was guilty of possessing indecent photos of children, three counts of creating indecent images, possession of forbidden pictures of children, possession of severe pornographic photos, and possession of a paedophile manual.
During the sentencing, Judge Andrew Menary KC, Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, stated: “This court sees, tragically, many cases of this nature. However, compared to others, your situation is unique in that the nature of the discovered material and the content of the photographs are incredibly startling.
“Around half a million photographs were recovered from your devices.
“Due to the enormity of the task, I’m told that 232,000 photos are still uncategorised. Your image collection was tremendous by any standard.
“You appear to have kept a journal of what you want to do to children. They’re horrible.
“They may be you acting out your dreams in writing, but they reveal the filthy, perverted nature of your wants and your motivation for obtaining all of this material.
“This written material plainly shows that your fixation was not idle but rather one focused on child abuse. It is trite to mention that, while you did not create these photographs, your access to and collection of them makes a market for this type of content.
“I have carefully considered whether a sentence other than immediate imprisonment is appropriate for this offense. Defendants like you who have committed this offense frequently benefit from Probation Service construction involvement.
“However, there are some offenses that can only be considered as very heinous. I’m afraid that is the situation in which you find yourself.
“I am satisfied that only an immediate jail sentence is adequate to deal with the volume and nature of offending detailed in this case, in which you actively sought out and collected a massive amount of awful material over many years.
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“Alongside that, you have generated your material, demonstrating that you have a clear desire to participate in the abuse of these children.”
VIA
