Former senior of year Errol Warren Bartlett-Torr jailed for child sex offences

A former WA senior of the year who lived in Denham for two decades has been jailed for five years for sickening sex offences involving children — one of whom was known to him. Errol Warren Bartlett-Torr, 86, was sentenced in Geraldton District Court last week after pleading guilty in November to 16 offences, including one count of sexually penetrating a child over 13 and under 16. Bartlett-Torr also admitted to seven counts of indecent dealing with a child under 13, and eight of indecent dealing with a child over 13 and under 16. The court was told he preyed on five children between 2000 and 2018, including one who had a disability. The victim was sexually abused at Bartlett-Torr’s Denham home while he was caring for the child and another child during school holidays. He would later sexually abuse the same child a further 11 times, while the child was aged between 12 and 13. Details of the offences, which ranged in severity, are too graphic to publish. Bartlett-Torr also groomed an eight-year-old for two years. Part of the grooming involved him showing the child photos of nude women whom he described as “sexy”. Justice Ronald Birmingham described Bartlett-Torr as a “predator” whose offending had an “aspect of planning”. “You corrupted and abused very young children for your own sexual gratification,” Justice Birmingham said. “You used your reputation as a photographer and a person of good standing in the community ... to groom and conceal the offending against these young children.” Justice Birmingham said Bartlett-Torr’s behaviour had “utterly corrupted” one of the children, who was now 21, causing them to develop post-traumatic stress disorder and an “emotionally unstable personality disorder”. “The child has flashbacks and disturbing memories,” he said. “The child has taken up to cutting (their) wrists and piercing (their) skin by way of self-harm as coping mechanisms. The child had suicidal thoughts.” He dismissed Bartlett-Torr’s claim he could not remember the incidents, adding that while he had no relevant prior convictions, he could not be considered a person of good character. This was despite his decades of “commendable community work” — including his work to help seniors stay connected to the community — for which he was named WA senior of the year in 2013. He also won the Mid West senior of the year award in 2001 for his association with the World Heritage Advisory Committee and Volunteer Marine Rescue. “Outwardly you conducted yourself in the community in an exemplary manner, but in my view it was a guise that allowed you to continue your offending,” Justice Birmingham said. He was sentenced to a total of five years jail, backdated to March 16, and will be eligible for parole after three years. Lifeline 13 11 14