Serial pedophile Stephen Raymond Vickery jailed for accessing child abuse material

A serial pedophile has been busted again, this time not even a week into his parole, when police found child abuse material on his phone.

Newcastle District Court, where Stephen Vickery was jailed on Tuesday. Picture: Amy Ziniak

A serial pedophile has been at it again, with police this time catching him accessing child abuse material less than a week after he was released on parole for similar offences.

On June 27 last year, Stephen Raymond Vickery, 72, was released on parole following a conviction for child abuse offences.

But when he was required to head to Newcastle Police Station as part of his reporting obligations, officers soon discovered he had been accessing a website containing sex stories, some of which constituted child abuse material.

Newcastle District Court heard that when police examined his phone, there was evidence he had accessed the website two to three times between July 1 and July 3, and that he had deleted his search history because he knew he shouldn’t have been doing it.

The court also heard that he admitted to having an obsession with it.

Vickery used two phones to access child abuse material. Picture: iStock

He also fronted up to officers about a second mobile phone, which he had stashed in his vehicle.

It contained a SIM card he had swapped between devices to access the stories.

In court on Tuesday, Vickery appeared via video link as he was sentenced after pleading guilty to a charge of using a carriage service to access child abuse material at Carrington.

The Crown prosecutor told the court a “mandatory minimum term” came into play following a High Court decision earlier this year.

However, she did note Vickery’s offending was “arguably less serious” than it would have been if it was vision-based.

She said it was a case where the 72-year-old had an “embedded predilection” in his offending and had been given chances before.

The court heard Vickery had been convicted for a number of previous similar offences in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.

His defence barrister said her client had willingly volunteered his second phone to police and the material was only accessed over a couple of days and not a long period.

She told the court Vickery was left in a difficult circumstance when he was released on parole, in that his ex-wife had died of cancer some four weeks prior and she was set to be his support system.

She said the court should take into account his “real problem” with integrating back into the community at the time, and the situation which had a real impact on his mental state.

Judge Peter McGrath agreed the objective seriousness was lower as it occurred over a short period and was fictional, but he said it certainly wasn’t harmless and was done for his sexual gratification.

Vickery was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail, with a non-parole period of 15 months.

That means he’ll be eligible for release in March next year.

If released then, he must be of good behaviour for a period of three years and will not be allowed to travel interstate or overseas unless he has written permission.

He will also be required to engage with his GP for a mental health treatment plan to target his offending behaviour.