(Image: DURHAM POLICE)
A “dangerous” paedophile who had "abhorrent and deeply disturbing" pictures of children died in a County Durham prison, an inquest has heard.
Stanley Burnett, from Gateshead, died in the healthcare unit of HMP Durham on July 19, less than two months after he was jailed for five years.
The 76-year-old was locked up after officers raided his home last August and seized a number of devices, later found to contain indecent images, videos, and incriminating online chats.
An inquest opened into his death at Crook Coroners’ Court on Tuesday (August 11) heard that Burnett’s medical cause of death was bronchopneumonia, a type of pneumonia, and metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, a type of cancer.
Coroner’s officer Stephanie Clough said Burnett was identified by prison officer Aidan Kilbride on July 19 at HMP Durham. A postmortem was then conducted at the Newcastle RVI Mortuary.
Burnett first came to the attention of police last August when an investigation was launched into his online activity following intelligence he was engaging in discussions and sharing images about child sexual abuse.
He was arrested that month and later charged with 14 offences.
This included making indecent images, two counts of distributing indecent videos, one count of publishing an indecent image, three counts of arranging/facilitating the commission of sexual activity with a child, and one count of breach of an interim Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Burnett pleaded guilty to all offences at Newcastle Crown Court in March and was remanded in custody. He returned to the same court in May where he was jailed for five years.
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He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register and was handed a sexual harm prevention order, both for life.
At the time, Detective Constable Geraldine Whitfield described him as a “dangerous predator”.
The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) said an investigation into his death remains in progress.
Senior Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield adjourned the inquest for a mention hearing on February 2, 2027to allow for PPO reports to be produced.