Scout pair jailed for child abuse

Police will investigate further possible paedophile offences after it emerged that a Scout leader jailed for sexually abusing young boys had more than 60,000 still images and movies of child porn.

Former Auckland Scout leaders Andrew John Pybus, 32, a courier driver, and Nigel Richard Fenemor, 48, an upholsterer, were sentenced in the High Court at Auckland yesterday to seven years behind bars.

Their case has sparked fears the men may have thrown open the doors to a chain of perverts.

Scouting New Zealand chief executive Geoff Knighton said last night he had been led to believe the men were not working in isolation.

"There tends to be networks, but we do not believe they are all within the Scouts," he said.

The organisation, which has 22,000 Scouting members, had already started tightening recruitment policies and was working on improved monitoring of leaders.

"In our defence these are devious and evil people," Mr Knighton said.

Pybus and Fenemor were told they would serve a minimum non-parole period of 3 1/2 years because the child sex abuse they admitted was so serious.

Pybus admitted representative charges of sexually abusing two boys, one under 12 and one under 16. He also admitted making and importing pornographic material.

Justice Mark Cooper said Pybus had 61,823 pornographic images and that indicated "a consuming, perverted pre-occupation".

Fenemor admitted charges of sexual violation, including anal sex, and representative charges of indecently assaulting a boy under 16.

The court heard both men sexually abused the same victim.

Both were Scout leaders and had a relationship of trust with their victims. Pybus befriended his first victim, and his victim's parents allowed their son to go on outings with Pybus.

His second victim was a friend of the first and Pybus' relationship with him also began in the context of the Scouting movement.

Pybus used a digital camera to take several hundred pictures of the abuse of both victims.

Fenemor's sexual abuse began with fondling, masturbation and progressed to anal sex.

Justice Cooper said he doubted the men fully appreciated the psychological harm they had done to their victims and their families. Both men expressed remorse for their offending, their lawyers said.

The judge told Pybus his two victims had been traumatised and had lost their chance of a normal life as children growing through teen years to adulthood.

"They are confused, betrayed and badly affected. Their pain causes further pain for their parents and family."

He said there was no violence but the offending could be described as cruel because of the psychological consequences.

The starting point for both men was 10 years in jail but that would be reduced to seven years each because of their early guilty pleas and other mitigating factors.

The convictions mean 16 Cub and Scout leaders have now been found guilty of indecent acts against minors in the past decade.

Act MP and anti-paedophile campaigner Deborah Coddington said paedophiles networked and shared victims.

"They deliberately target organisations like Scouts and more needs to be done to protect the children."

- additional reporting: Bridget Carter