Paedophile blackmailed shamed Wakefield headteacher out of £3,100 after child-abuse website meeting

Joseph Hutchinson told Gareth Mellor that he knew he was an assistant head at Kettlethorpe High School, knew where he lived and would tell Mellor’s wife of his involvement, unless he paid him sums of “hush money”.

Mellor was eventually arrested and sentenced last year after his vile interests came to light. He avoided an immediate custodial sentence but lost his job and reputation.

However, 33-year-old Hutchinson, who has been convicted before for downloading abuse images, was caught again last year with more than 500 images on a Samsung phone.

Prosecutor John Bottomley told Leeds Crown Court today that following an in-depth forensic analysis of his devices by police, it was found that Hutchinson had met Mellor on a website in either 2018 or 2019, and had directed Mellor to a site.

He offered to send him a link in exchange for £200, which Mellor paid. He later emailed Mellor and told him what he knew about him, even confirming Mellor’s home address and said he wanted money from him.

Fearing of being outed, Mellor sent him eight separate transfers of cryptocurrency between December 2020 and April 2021, totalling £3,102. Hutchinson continued to make demands, but Mellor’s dirty secret had been revealed by that point and had been arrested.

Hutchinson, of Clifford Court, Ossett, appeared in court this week via video link from HMP Hull. He admitted blackmail, three counts of making indecent images, breach of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and breach of a suspended sentence order.

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Hutchinson was previously convicted in June 2022 of making indecent images, when around 4,500 were found across a phone and a laptop. He had also hacked two women’s accounts and stole photos, blackmailing them into sending more to him. He was later given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years and a 10-year SHPO.

Little mitigation was offered by his barrister, Stephen Smithson, this week, but he said Hutchinson had “reconciled with a custodial sentence”. He also said he had admitted much of his wrongdoing at an early stage.

Judge Tahir Khan KC told Hutchinson: “Your position is made worse because of your previous conviction. Part of your behaviour back then was to make threats to two women and there’s similarities to that behaviour and the conduct in relation to Mr Mellor.”

He jailed Hutchinson for 32 months in total, and activated six months of his previous suspended sentence, making a total of 38 months. He was also put on the sex offender register for another 10 years.