Police walk in on child rapist desperately deleting extreme pornography collection.

A child rapist has been returned to jail after police uncovered his collection of extreme pornography.

Michael Wright was caught deleting content from his laptop when a police officer visited his home. The device was seized, and more than 150 images of bestiality were discovered, along with Google searches for more depraved content.

Wright was initially imprisoned in 2016 after pleading guilty to a series of child sexual offenses, including three counts of rape. The HGV driver, then of Southport, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

He had been released on licence when a police officer visited his home in June 2021. The visit was a requirement of a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) he was subject to. This order prohibited him from possessing electronic devices that police didn't have access to and from owning any device capable of accessing the internet unless it recorded his search history.

Daniel Bramhall, the prosecutor, stated that the officer who visited Wright's home believed he was attempting to prevent them from entering, arguing, "It's a bit of a mess." Once inside, the officer found the flat clean and tidy and observed two laptops and a mobile phone on a coffee table. One of the laptops was in use.

Mr. Bramhall said, "When asked if police had the details of this device, the defendant said the computer did not belong to him and he was wiping it for someone who lived downstairs. He then claimed it was his laptop but that he was clearing it so that he could sell it."

Wright was apprehended on suspicion of violating his SHPO and the laptops were confiscated. The laptop that was being cleared was discovered to contain 169 images of extreme pornography, typically involving animals. The images dated back to 2016, and Wright stated, "I was addicted to pornography at the time - it was depraved."

The 54-year-old admitted to possessing extreme pornography and breaching his SHPO. Gareth Roberts, Wright's defense attorney, informed Liverpool Crown Court that his client had attempted to overcome his demons in recent years but acknowledged that in 2016, "He was in the grip of an insidious and rather horrible addiction to pornography."

Mr. Roberts explained that this addiction had ravaged his client's life but noted that the images found on his laptop were downloaded a long time ago. He also highlighted that Wright had worked diligently to turn his life around since his conviction, adding, "He wants to get on with the process of rehabilitating himself."

Judge Stuart Driver, QC, acknowledged that Wright was caught in the act of deleting his laptop's history but accepted that there was no evidence of recent unlawful activity. He sentenced Wright, who had been in prison since his arrest last summer, to a six-month jail term.