Les Merton is a convicted child-abuser from Medlyn Moor, Cornwall, England, UK, subsequently living in Redruth before his 2015 conviction.[1] Educated at Halwin School, and employed in various ways in his life, he has written in a range of genres including humour and Cornish dialect.[2]
In 2002 he founded Poetry Cornwall/Bardhonyeth Kernow,[3] now defunct. In the same year his poem "Gud News" won the Cornish Gorsedd,[4] and in 2004 he was made a bard of that organisation for his services to Cornish literature,[2] which have been described as "new investigations of Cornish experience".[5] His bardic name was Map Hallow (Son of the Moors),[2] however since his conviction he has been removed from the Bardic Roll.[6] His guide to the Cornish dialect entitled Oall Rite Me Ansum?: a salute to Cornish Dialect was published in 2003.[1][7]
In 2005 Merton accepted a police caution for entering his credit card details into a website hosting indecent images of children, but had claimed that this was a mistake which happened whilst carrying out research into the Russian mystic, Rasputin.[8]
In January 2015, Merton was found guilty and jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse which was carried out on girls as young as seven and over a period of over 20 years.[9]
References
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- ^ a b "Cornwall Writers – Poetry inspired by the Cornish landscape". Genius Loci Creative Network. Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ a b c "Profile of Les Merton". The Emporium Redruth. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ "Poetry Cornwall – Bardhonyeth Kernow". Poetry Cornwall – Bardhonyeth Kernow. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ Chatter of Choughs: an anthology celebrating the return of Cornwall's legendary bird. Penzance: Hypatia Trust. 2005. pp. xxvi, 43–45. ISBN 978-1-872229-49-2.
- ^ Kent, Alan (2006). "Bringin' the Dunkey Down from the Carn:" Cornu-English in Context 1549–2005, a provisional analysis (PDF). Potsdam: Universitäts-Verlag Potsdam. p. 27. ISBN 3-939469-06-8.
- ^ "Bardic Roll" (PDF). Gorsedh Kernow. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
- ^ Merton, Les (2003). Oall Rite Me Ansum?: a salute to the Cornish Dialect. UK: Countryside Books. ISBN 1-85306-814-4.
- ^ "'Rasputin research' led bard les Merton to child porn". BBC News. 15 January 2015.
- ^ "Cornish bard les Merton guilty of child sex abuse". BBC News. 16 January 2015.
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