Description
A serial south Essex sex offender has been jailed after being caught on a boat off Canvey Island with a stash of indecent images of children.
Barry Mills, 60, possessed photos and videos showing children as young as two being sexually abused, including digital and hard copy images—one of which he had kept in a toilet where it could have been seen by the public, the judge said.
Essex and Sussex police raided his vessel on December 16.
At Basildon Crown Court on Monday (February 2), the sentencing hearing revealed Mills had 75 prior convictions, many sexual.
In 1985, aged 18, he was convicted of indecent assault on a child under 14.
In 1990, he was convicted of possessing indecent images of children and indecent assault of a child under 16.
In 1994, at Chelmsford Crown Court, he received eight years in prison for indecent exposure, possessing indecent images, gross indecency with a child, and multiple indecent assaults on a child under 14.
After a long gap, in 2017 he was prosecuted for indecent exposure and given a suspended sentence.
Recorder Emma Nash noted that digital analysis showed Mills collected images in December while awaiting that 2017 sentence and during his court-ordered rehabilitation.
The digital images, on a Samsung phone and tablet, were downloaded between 2015 and 2018, with some acquired recently via Telegram.
Metadata indicated he last accessed a Category A image—depicting penetrative or sadistic child abuse—in June 2025.
Prosecutor Richard Scott said Mills had over 500 Category C images, 98 Category B, and over 100 Category A, including videos, plus extreme pornography and a prohibited child image.
“There is a clear history of sexual offending in respect of this defendant,” said Mr. Scott, citing aggravating factors like “the age and vulnerability” of victims and their “discernible pain and distress.”
Defense barrister Kerrie Rowan described Mills' “early life was marred with trauma, with abuse and instability,” adding, “Many, if not all, of those issues remain unresolved,” and he was “still clearly struggling with the same history of trauma.”
She argued he was capable of rehabilitation, having stayed offense-free for about 20 years after 1994 before relapsing due to “personal upheaval,” for which he was “very angry with himself.” With help, she said, he might achieve “very hopefully, another 20-year period where he is not back before the courts,” via a “stringent” order, “very heavy intervention from probation,” and rehab to “really try, in a significant way, to deal with this emotional dysregulation.”
But Recorder Nash cited a probation report noting poor prior compliance with supervision and a “high risk of sexual offending in relation to children.” Mills had used pseudonyms on Facebook and Grindr, and admitted stashing a hard copy image “in a toilet where both children and other people went on a regular basis.”
“There is no realistic prospect of rehabilitation in this case,” she said, sentencing him to 20 months in prison.
Mills, appearing via prison video link in a green t-shirt, showed no emotion.
He also received a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning contact with under-18s unless pre-approved by police and a parent or guardian aware of his record.