A PAEDOPHILE with an "embedded predilection" for accessing child abuse material had spent less than a week on parole before he was caught viewing reprehensible child sexual abuse stories on two mobile phones.
And despite being at risk of institutionalisation and spending much of the last five years behind bars after repeatedly being caught with child sexual abuse material, Stephen Raymond Vickery, now 72, has never received any sex offender programs in jail because he is viewed as "below average risk".
Vickery was on Tuesday jailed for a maximum of two years and nine months, with a non-parole period of 15 months after he admitted to accessing a website containing child abuse stories only a few days after he was released on parole to live at an address in Carrington last year.
Vickery had attended Newcastle police station on July 3 as part of his requirements under the Child Protection Registry and was asked by police to hand over his mobile phone.
Police quickly discovered Vickery had accessed a website containing stories of child sexual abuse and he made full admissions, saying he was "bored" and "may have an obsession or addiction" with viewing the material.
He said he had attempted to wipe his search history, but was "not as good at deleting his history as he thought he was".
He admitted he knew the website contained child abuse material and even told police about a second mobile phone in his car that he had also used to access the website.
Vickery was charged and refused bail, the authorities revoking his parole over a jail term he received for possessing 250 child abuse images and failing to comply with the reporting obligations of the Child Protection Registry in 2021.
Before serving that jail term, Vickery had been charged with possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child abuse material in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the court heard.
But despite spending most of the last five years behind bars, Vickery had been unable to undertake any sex offender programs because he was deemed "below average risk".
Judge McGrath said in jail those services were confined to offenders who engaged in "contact" child sexual abuse offences and, as a result, Vickery's time behind bars would not serve to rehabilitate him "at all".
He said Vickery would need to begin any rehabilitation when he is released from jail, but noted he had failed repeatedly in the past culminating in him spending less than a week on parole last year before his arrest.
Judge McGrath jailed Vickery for a maximum of two years and nine months, with a non-parole period of 15 months.
With time served, he will be eligible for parole in March next year.
