ACT Court of Appeal more than halves jail sentence for child sex offender Philip Mertell

Retired information technology worker Philip Fletcher Mertell was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court in March to six years and three months in jail, with a non-parole period of two years.

Mertell, aged in his late 60s, had previously pleaded guilty to seven charges of possessing child abuse material and two counts of accessing it.

The charges stemmed from a raid on his Canberra home in January 2021, when officers busted him in possession of 513 child abuse material files that depicted up to 75 victims.

Associate Justice Verity McWilliam, who imposed the initial sentence, said Mertell had sought to minimise his criminal conduct by blaming it on "hoarding tendencies".

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Mertell also claimed he had accidentally downloaded child abuse material during his "obsessive" collecting of pornography, and said "curiosity" had prompted him to open files with names that referred to children.

However, Associate Justice McWilliam found his collecting of child abuse material had not been inadvertent and his "obsessive downloading" was motivated by sexual gratification.

The offender's lawyers, barrister John Purnell SC and solicitor Jacob Robertson, challenged the sentence on two grounds in the ACT Court of Appeal last month.

These were that the jail term was manifestly excessive, and that Associate Justice McWilliam had failed to adequately take into account the principle of totality.

Federal prosecutor Krista Breckweg conceded there had been a failure to give adequate weight to totality, which had resulted in an excessive total sentence and non-parole period.

A judgement published on Friday shows Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson, Justice Geoffrey Kennett and Justice Wendy Abraham ultimately resentenced Mertell to two-and-a-half years in jail.

The offender will only serve 40 per cent of the term behind bars, however, with a $1000 recognisance release order to take effect after one year in custody.

That order requires Mertell to abide by eight conditions, which include being of good behaviour for two years and undertaking treatment or rehabilitation programs as recommended by a probation officer.

Having been behind bars since he was initially sentenced, Mertell will now be released from prison in March 2023.

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