Judge Mental ! Judge Cahill, Mr Justice Walker, Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Mitting

Mr Justice Walker

White girls suffer less as a result of child abuse!

That is the bizarre though natural conclusion that emerges from the bonkers logic of the sentencing justification of the original trial judge, Judge Cahill, and the Court of Appeal headed by  Mr Justice Walker and sitting with Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Mitting.

Nobody is suggesting that Jamal Muhammed Raheem-ul-Nasir, who was jailed for seven years at Leeds Crown Court last year for sex attacks on two Asian girls, aged nine and 14, should have received a lesser sentence but it is a cause for concern that it appears that he received a harsher sentence than if he’d committed exactly the same offences against two white girls.

The logic for this was that the Asian girls’ fathers might struggle to find a good match for their daughters when it came to negotiate their arranged marriages. Thus more harm was caused to the Asian girls than would have been caused if the children had been white.

Is the judiciary sending paedophiles a clear message that they’ll receive a lesser sentence if they rape white girls than if they rape Asian girls. Is the rape of white girls now considered a lesser crime ? This is, of course, similar logic to that used by the Asian grooming gangs that operate throughout the UK. Underage white girls are considered “white trash” or “white meat” which is OK for them to “practice on” . In short these abusers believe that white girls are less deserving of respect than Asian girls and it seems that the UK judiciary agree with them.

Regardless of the ethnicity of the child, boy or girl, a survivor of child sexual abuse is far more likely to have issues of trust and intimacy within the future adult relationships that they might have. It seems that first Judge Cahill and then the Court of Appeal have concluded that because Asian families often treat girls as property to be bartered during arranged marriage negotiations, and as that property has been somehow ‘damaged’ and therefore has less value, the crime is somehow greater.

The judiciary in the UK have always put property rights above human rights and so I guess that thinking about children as property that has been damaged, rather than girls that have suffered sexual abuse, has led them to see a more grievous crime ?

Jamal Muhammed Raheem-ul-Nasir

A senior judge has ruled a child molester was rightly given a tougher than normal sentence because his victims were Asian and so suffered more from his crimes.

Jamal Muhammed Raheem-ul-Nasir was jailed for seven years at Leeds Crown Court last year for sex attacks on two girls, aged nine and 14.

But the paedophile took the case to appeal, with his lawyers complaining that his sentence was unfairly inflated and ‘excessive’.

Senior judge Mr Justice Walker has now thrown out those arguments after hearing that the victims’ families feared they would struggle to find future husbands because of the abuse.

The move has been criticised by children’s charity the NSPCC, who insist justice should be blind to the race of victims.

Daily Mail

Judge Mental: Shaun Burford And The Court Of Appeal

Sharing the Judge Mental award today are 3 judges from the Court of Appeal for allowing convicted sex offender Shaun Burford to work with children again.

Asked to comment, journalist and former police officer Mark Williams-Thomas said; “This is a disgraceful decision and I can tell you as someone who undertakes risk assessments on sex offenders that at best he remains a low risk. Any organisation employing him to work with children is taking a huge risk and would be wrong to do so .”

Judge Bourne-Arton, Lord Justice Pitchford and Mr Justice Haddon-Cave

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC said: “Are we satisfied that he will commit further offences against children? There is no material before us to allow us to come to such a conclusion. The disqualification order will be quashed.”

No material before them except the evidence from Burford’s conviction that is, which apparently doesn’t count.

It’s almost as though their appeal judgement in this case is based purely on their personal recognition that they are unable to predict the future. No one can.  The Court of Appeal are not supposed to act like Precogs in the Minority Report.

The question that I’m sure will be on everyone’s mind is; why would Shaun Burford want leave to work with children again ? There are plenty of other jobs he could seek.

Shaun Burford

A former school support worker who was jailed after exchanging explicit text messages with a teenage girl has been cleared to work with children again.

Shaun Alexander Burford was caged for six months in 2009 when he was employed at Christ Church School, now The John Wallis Academy, after sending a video of himself having a threesome to a 13-year-old girl and encouraging her to text him a topless photo of herself.

Burford, now 46, was made to sign the sex offenders’ register and was also hit with a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) and an order disqualifying him from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Kent Online

Judge Mental: Judge Simon Carr

Photo needed of Judge Simon Carr.

A man sexually abuses a 5 year old girl and when she reports it to the police 35 years later 3 of the man’s family beat the victim up.

What do you think  Judge Simon Carr did ?

He lets all 4 walk free from court.

Christopher Prowse received a suspended sentence for indecent assault.

Christopher Prowse

Sentencing, Judge Simon Carr said the incident had been “disgraceful”.

“You deliberately assaulted a five-year-old child,” he said. “That would have been terrifying for her as it would have been confusing and embarrassing.”

He said the victim had shown him “enormous compassion” by not going to the police in the mid-2000s but that when the matter became known locally, Prowse had acted in a cowardly way by denying it – an action which led some people to consider the woman a liar.

The Cornishman

Michael Prowse, Amanda Durrant and Jason Thomas also received suspended sentences.

Michael Prowse, Amanda Durrant and Jason Thomas

The woman left the venue but came into contact with the three again sometime later.

Ms Martin said Thomas, 34, of St Johns Terrace, Pendeen, kicked the woman in the face.

Then all three of them began punching her in the face.

They each admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the woman but denied charges of witness intimidation…

…Sentencing, Judge Simon Carr said the three were lucky that the woman’s injuries were restricted to multiple bruising.

He said: “[She was] continually approached in the street that she was a liar; that she was making things up.

“On this particular occasion, yet again she was confronted by a group containing the three of you … you beat her up for telling the truth.”

The Cornishman

 

Judge Mental! : Judge Joanna Greenberg QC

 

Congratulations go to Judge Joanna Greenberg QC who wins the ‘Judge Mental’ Award this time for her ‘blame the victim’ attitude to justice.

This resulted in Stuart Kerner a 44 year old RE (yes that is Religious Education) teacher who had sex with a 16 year old pupil on school premises to walk away from court with an 18 month suspended sentence.

OF course, blaming women for the lust of men has ancient religious roots that Stuart Kerner will be very well aware of but who’d have thought Judge Joanna Greenberg QC would have shared them ?

“She pursued you. Her friends said she was stalking you. She hung around where she would be near you. She had been obsessed with you for a long time.’There is no evidence you encouraged her in any way. There is no evidence you groomed her. If anything it was she who groomed you. You gave way to temptation”  – Judge Joanna Greenberg QC

Ah well. there you go. That damn temptation thing again, it’s the only thing I can’t resist! (as Oscar Wilde might say)

A religious studies teacher who repeatedly had sex with a pupil and took her virginity on the floor of a school cupboard was spared jail today after a judge said he had been ‘groomed’ by his victim.

Married Stuart Kerner, 44, had sex with the 16-year-old girl at his school in south-east London on a yoga mat and also at his family home when his wife was at work.

In between sex sessions he made her Marmite on toast and they watched Bargain Hunt on television.

However, he walked free from court today after Judge Joanna Greenberg QC gave him a suspended 18 month jail sentence because the pupil ‘pursued’ him.

Today the Attorney General’s office confirmed to MailOnline they will review whether the sentence was too lenient after five complaints from the public.

Daily Mail

Judge Mental: Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas

Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas

Despite Jeffrey Charles Goodwyn, 48, being given an indeterminate sentence in 2012 for indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl;

Despite already having had a previous conviction for raping a nine-year-old child;

Despite it being recognised that Jeffrey Charles Goodwyn clearly represents a danger to the public being considered “a very dangerous offender indeed”;

Despite the Parole Board describing his conduct in prison as unsatisfactory after he threatened staff and was punished for fighting;

And despite his own lawyers admitting that he had made “no progress whatsoever” in prison and “his failure to engage with the relevant assistance available to him in prison, he has not begun to address his offending.”

Despite all of this, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas has released him!

Thank you Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas for dumping, what you yourself described as “a very dangerous man”, on the public.

For that Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas you receive The Needle’s ‘Judge Mental’ Award.

A child rapist has been released after the UK’s top judge said it would be “unlawful” to keep him locked up.

Jeffrey Charles Goodwyn, 48, was given an indeterminate sentence in 2012 for indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl eight or more years earlier.

He already had a previous conviction for raping a nine-year-old child.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas said at the Court of Appeal that an open-ended sentence could only be passed for offences after April 2005.

“Despite the danger to the public which this applicant clearly represents, we are in no doubt that… The IPP (imprisonment for public protection) was unlawful,” he said.

The court heard Goodwyn was given an indeterminate sentence at Cardiff Crown Court in 2012 after admitting offences against a seven year old girl and being considered “a very dangerous offender indeed” by the judge.

BBC News

 

 

Judge Mental: Judge Philip Cattan

I don’t have a ‘Judge-Ignorant’ category, so, I’ll have to stick this in The Needle’s ‘Judge Mental’ category.

There are a lot of ‘allegedlys’ in the stories this morning about this.

He ‘allegedly’ fell asleep.

But the undeniable fact remains that Judge Philip Cattan couldn’t be bothered to give the impression that he was awake regardless of whether he slept or not and as a consequence a schoolgirl looks likely to have to give her harrowing evidence again in the child sex abuse trial that Judge Philip Cattan was presiding over.

What kind of message does that send out ?

He should retire!

Judge Mental! Judge Philip Cattan

A young girl faces having to repeat her harrowing evidence of alleged sex abuse.

And taxpayers must pick up a bill for thousands of pounds – all because a judge is accused of falling asleep.

The jury was sent home as a probe was launched into claims Recorder Philip Cattan snoozed as the girl gave evidence via video link.

Worried he had nodded off during a crucial point in the case, barristers raised a “point of law”.

And while the jury was out of the room, the judge was confronted with the claim he had slept during part of the cross-examination.

Kama Melly, a leading criminal barrister who specialises in child sex crime , said: “If these allegations prove to be correct then they are extremely serious.

The Mirror

Judge Mental: Judge Denis Watson

Judge Denis Watson QC

 

Judge Denis Watson QC gets the ‘Judge Mental’ award today for sentencing Andreas Bauminis, a Latvian national to only 8 months in prison despite the fact that he possessed an alleged snuff movie.

“A 20-minute ‘snuff’ video showed a 15-year-old girl being raped, strangled with a wire and apparently murdered before being wrapped in a plastic sheet and dragged out the room.”

Regardless of whether it was genuine or not, and the Judge having watched it thought it was genuine, anyone who would seek to get pleasure from such a video should receive a much greater custodial sentence than 8 months (out in 4 months).

It is also rather odd that a story that involves a ‘snuff’ movie, which must surely now be evidence in a potential murder inquiry somewhere in the world and a tip off from The Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation has only been reported in a few local newspapers. So, unusual did this seem to me that I had to contact Liverpool Crown Court and the Police myself to verify the details.

Well done to those news sites that have covered it.

A SHOCKING ‘snuff movie’ was found at the Skelmersdale home of a young factory worker along with other appalling child abuse images, a court has heard.

And a judge told Andreas Bauminis: “It is hard to imagine or contemplate a more grotesque, revolting, repulsive and inhuman series of images.”

The disgusting videos were discovered at the home of Bauminis following information from the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation about use of internet file sharing sites.

Police went to his home, which he shared with his brother’s family, including two children, in February last year and seized his computer tower.

Champion

Letter To The Attorney General Regarding The Case Of Callum Evans.

Posted as a comment by IWTT in response to this ‘Judge Mental’ article – HERE 

A template letter to the Attorney General.

Thank you IWTT.

Judge Graham Hume Jones(left) and Callum Evans (right). [Just in case you couldn’t tell which was the judge and which was the serial sex offender]

Please copy and send to correspondence@attorneygeneral.gsi.gov.uk

Dear Sir,

I am writing with regard to the sentence given to Callum Evans on 16th January 2014.

He has been placed under a community order for three years, which does not reflect the severity of his misdemeanors, nor does it take into account the fact that Callum Evans is already a serial child abuser.

Whilst this is the 3rd time that Callum Evans has been brought before the court, he somehow manages to be tried by the same judge (Judge Graham Hume Jones).

Callum Evans lives in The Glebe in Queen Camel, near Yeovil.

He has previously pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making indecent photographs of a child and inciting a child to engage in prostitution or pornography

Six further charges relating to child sex offences have been ordered to lie on file.

Evans was already on a three-year community order, after being spared prison in 2011 having admitted a string of sex charges. It would appear that the sex offenders programme is not working for this paedophile and it is important that he is given a custodial sentence as soon as possible so that he is not allowed to abuse any more children/young people.

I ask that you review this latest sentencing and consider whether it is unduly lenient.

Please let me know your decision as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Perhaps Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, should be reviewing more than Callum Evans’ sentence ?

You decide…

His Honour Judge Jones has found himself at the centre of controversy over his sentencing in other cases in recent years.

And in April 2011 the judge said he was forced to free a pervert who downloaded over 6,000 sexual images because a prison sentence would not be long enough to rehabilitate him.

The Western Gazette

Judge Mental!: Judge Graham Hume Jones

Judge Graham Hume Jones is now a two time recipient of The Needle’s ‘Judge Mental’ Award. 

This time Judge Graham Hume Jones gets the award for giving Callum Evans, an already convicted paedophile and the same man he’s let off twice before, one “last chance” to avoid jail.

Last July I wrote:

Two years ago Judge Graham Hume Jones sentenced Callum Evans, now 21 after he admitted six charges of making an indecent image of a child, five charges of causing or inciting a child to take part in pornography and two charges of sexual activity with a child. At that time Judge Graham Hume Jones said that banning him from Facebook would be excessive and isolate him the “social traffic” of his peers.

But less than two years later Judge Graham Hume Jones has been confronted with his own incompetence. At Taunton Crown Court in Somerset he heard how Callum Evans returned to Facebook within weeks of walking free from his court to find yet more victims. Posing as a girl variously named ‘Georgina’, ‘Georgia’, ‘Georgie’ and ‘Jade’, he tried to groom 13 boys and one girl aged between 13 and 15 in 12 months, tricking them into sending pornographic photos of themselves.

Callum Evans was found in possession of 648 sexually explicit images of children with a handful in the serious grade four category.

The Needle

So this is the third time this judge has let this same paedophile off !

What the bloody hell is going on ?!

Judge Graham Hume Jones

And now from today:

A convicted paedophile from Somerset who continued to abuse children even while under supervision has been given a “last chance” to avoid jail.

Callum Evans, 21, who had pleaded guilty to 40 child-related sex charges, was told by a Bristol Crown Court judge that he was close to a prison sentence.

But Judge Graham Hume Jones said he wanted to ensure Evans was kept under supervision for as long as possible.

He has been placed under a community order for three years.

BBC News

Judge Mental!: Judge Andrew Hatton

Judge Andrew Hatton

Since when has “personal use” been a defense for having over 12,000 child abuse images on your computer ? 

A paedophile pensioner who downloaded almost 12,500 images of children being abused avoided jail after he promised a judge the vile stash was for his personal use only.

George Thompson, 79, used specialist software to wipe his internet history and an anti-encryption programme to hide his sick obsession if police ever sized his hard drive.

The elderly man, who walks with two sticks, has convictions for indecently assaulting boys under 14 in the 1950s and 70s.

But despite the huge child porn collection, a judge decided Thompson, from West Kriby, Merseyside, was ‘not a risk to society.’

The pensioner insisted he had never shared the vile images with fellow perverts.

Thompson was caught when a painter and decorator doing work at his home discovered his foul picture haul.

Some of the images, found on October 2011, were collected from the internet while others had been created by the pensioner, transferring the heads of some children onto the bodies of others.

Thomspon admitted to police having a sexual interest in young boys.

The Mirror

Judge Mental!

And we thought we had problems in this country.

Italy’s top appeals court has annulled a five-year jail sentence against a 60-year-old man found in bed with a girl of 11 on the grounds it’s a “romantic relationship”, it’s reported.

The case happened in the southern Italian town of Catanzaro, reports Italian news website TGCom24. The girl is said to be from a disadvantaged background and was in the care of the man, who works in the town’s social services department. Police discovered the pair in bed during a raid on his seaside villa. He was given a five-year sentence for sexual violence against a minor. The age of consent is 14. It rises to 16 where one of the partners is in a position of authority or care over the younger party.

But the court has quashed the original sentence due to extenuating circumstances – the girl has reportedly professed to be in love with the defendant, and the court has found the pair have a “romantic relationship”. The case has been sent back to the Catanzaro court for a retrial. Court cases in Italy are normally subject to several levels of appeal before a sentence is confirmed.

BBC News

Judge Mental! Judge Penny Moreland

It’s astonishing that a man who had groomed and sought to meet an underage girl and who was later found to be in posssession of 900 child porn images and 7 movies is free to walk the streets.

Who do we all have to thank for this ?

Step forward Judge Penny Moreland (picture needed) who sentenced Kieran Clough, 23, to a community order.

A mother who posed as her 15-year-old daughter to snare an internet paedophile has spoken of her anger after he walked free from court.

The woman started to pose as her daughter in a bid to capture Kieran Clough, 23, after discovering he was attempting to groom the teenager on Facebook for sex.

When Clough, who had used a fake name, went to meet the girl, with weapons and a book about sex in his car, he was met by the police.

Officers searched the garage worker’s home and found more than 900 child porn images and seven movies on his computer.

Clough, of Chester le Street, County Durham, admitted grooming, possessing indecent photographs of children and having offensive weapons.

Judge Penny Moreland sentenced Clough to a community order for three years with a Sex Offenders’ Register requirement and Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years at Newcastle Crown Court.

Daily Mail

Judge Mental ! Rodney Jameson QC

“This is, in the classic sense of the word, a tragedy – that somebody with your ability, and the good in you, was not able to control successfully instincts that led you to commit these offences.” Rodney Jameson told school teacher Richard Oldham after he had pleaded guilty to 6 counts of sexual assault on two young boys.

It’s a good example of why the judiciary shouldn’t all be culled from public schools where they teach the classics.

Anyone have a photo of Rodney Jameson ?

A primary school teacher who filmed young boys on a phone as they changed for swimming lessons has been jailed for six months.

At Leeds Crown Court, Richard Oldham, 32, pleaded guilty to voyeurism, as well as six counts of sexual assault against two boys.

Oldham, now of North Tamerton, Cornwall taught at several primary schools in the York area from 2004 to 2012.

The judge, Rodney Jameson QC, told Oldham he had “demons to wrestle with”.

He told Oldham “I’m confident you’re man enough to do it. This is, in the classic sense of the word, a tragedy – that somebody with your ability, and the good in you, was not able to control successfully instincts that led you to commit these offences.”

He said the six-month jail sentence would be “a very severe punishment” for Oldham, who was described in court as a “gifted teacher”.

‘Predatory paedophile’Oldham, who admitted a total of 17 offences relating to making and possessing indecent images of children and voyeurism, was given a sexual offences prevention order and banned from working with children.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Det Sgt Adam Normanton, from North Yorkshire Police, described Oldham, who had more than 2,000 images of children on his computer, as a “predatory paedophile”.

He added: “When questioned by the police he dismissed the evidence of the children and tried to distance himself from the catalogue of child images on his computer including the videos he himself had recorded.

“He tried to portray himself as the model teacher in fact he was the opposite. He was every parent’s worst nightmare and prison is the right place for him.”

Joe Cocker, from the City of York Council’s safeguarding children board, said: “Richard Oldham has betrayed the trust of his pupils, their parents, his colleagues and profession.”

BBC News

Paedophile-friendly Judges vs Society?

Following Gojam’s recent posts on “Judge-mental”, I was struck by a link Martin posted. There has been much discussion lately about paedophile judges and paedophile-friendly judges. This is in response to widespread concern about paedophiles being freed or given ludicrous light sentences for offences most of us would consider to be heinous crimes. When we dare protest at this, we are dismissed as “online nutters”.  We are told how important it is for judges to be “independent”.  They are in possession of all the facts and we should leave sentencing to them!  Really?!  What about accountability to the public? But paedophile-friendly judges are nothing new. They have been doing this for decades.  It is not just the British public who have been expressing concern at the lenient treatment of these evil people.

The link Martin provided was to an article in the Sidney Morning Herald, dated July 1st 1983. Under the headline, “It’s British Justice, but is it just”?, we find the story of Judge David Tudor Price of the Old Bailey. Just a couple of months after presiding over the trial of Carol and Harry Kazir, Judge Price allowed a convicted paedophile to walk free.  He had been convicted of 300 (yes 300!) sexual offences against a 7 year old boy! He had 3 previous convictions for sexual offences against children.

So it has always been! Judges on the whole do seem NOT to consider such offences as serious – look at Ovenden, et al!!
On behalf of all us “online nutters” I say this has got to change. The horror and disgust of the overwhelming majority of the British people MUST be heard.

Maybe that great defender of children, Mr Kieth Vaz MP, chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, who said it was everyone’s duty to speak out against the abuse of children – Yes! – would be better concentrating the minds of his committee towards its duty as the law makers.  How about some recommendations for MANDATORY prison sentences for those convicted of CSA offences?  That is the only way most of us will be convinced that the law does treat these offences as serious and paedophile-friendly judges will no longer be able to abuse their power.

This week at the Old Bailey, Judge David Tudor Price let a man who admitted 300 charges of sexual molestation against a boy of seven go free, saying the prisoner had agreed to have medical treatment.  The man, a 34-year-old porter, had been convicted three times previously of sex offences against children, but had never received a sentence.

After the hearing, the boy’s father said: The judge must be cracked.  It’s him who wants medical treatment.  Or else the British system of justice is up the spout.

The Sydney Morning Herald 1st July 1983

Judge Mental! Judge Samuel Wiggs

600 child abuse images, but education official walks free from court

A FORMER education official who downloaded more than 600 indecent images of children has walked free from court after receiving a suspended prison sentence.

Robert Ian Finlay, 53, of Barnes Crescent, East Howe, had earlier pleaded guilty to 17 offences committed between January 1, 2009 and January 10 this year.

Sentencing at Bournemouth Crown Court, Judge Samuel Wiggs handed him an eight-month spell in prison, suspended for two years.

He told him: “There is no public interest in sending you immediately to prison.”

Indecent pictures of children are rated between one and five with level one images said to be the least serious and level five the most serious.

The charges related to 328 level one images, 23 level two, 156 level three, 86 level four and eight level five.

Jane Portman, executive director for adults’ and children’s services at Bournemouth Borough Council where Finlay worked at the time of his arrest, said today: “While we are surprised with the suspended sentence we do accept the judge’s decision.

Bournemouth Echo 16/08/13

Neil Wilson’s sentence increased over a ‘technicality’

Paedopile whose victim was described as predatory has sentence increased.

Judge who granted suspended sentence lengthens overall term by four months on technicality over indecent images charges

The attorney general, Dominic Grieve (above), is to examine the sentencing of paedophile Neil Wilson.

A convicted paedophile who escaped jail after his 13-year-old victim was described by a prosecutor as predatory has had his sentence increased because of a technicality.

Neil Wilson was given an eight-month suspended sentence after admitting he had engaged in sexual activity with the girl – as well as separate counts of making indecent images – at Snaresbrook crown court in east London last week.

News that the prosecutor Robert Colover had described the victim as predatory and sexually experienced caused outrage and led to his suspension from prosecuting sexual offence cases pending a review by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Judge Nigel Peters QC is also being investigated by the Office for Judicial Complaints for remarking that his sentence took into account the girl’s appearance and behaviour.

On Monday, Peters altered Wilson’s sentence at a brief hearing at Snaresbrook crown court, after admitting it needed correction.

Making no reference to the controversy surrounding the case during the 10-minute hearing, the judge kept Wilson’s sentence for sexual activity with a child the same – at eight months suspended for two years – but changed his total sentence to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The Guardian 12/08/13

Judge Mental: The Pathetic Judge Nigel Peters

Adding insult to injury, Judge Nigel Peters has reviewed his own sentencing of the convicted paedophile Neil Wilson.

He has increased the sentence from an 8 month suspended sentence to a 12 month suspended sentence, this for a man who raped a 13 year old girl.

In doing so, he has increased the amount of time this arsehole will not spend in prison by four months. A real victory for justice then…

The sentence is still to be reviewed by the Attorney General.

A man whose conviction over serious sexual offences prompted outrage has had his sentence slightly increased.

Neil Wilson, 41, was handed an eight month suspended sentence last week in a case which saw his 13-year-old victim described in court as “predatory”.

Appearing via video link at Snaresbrook crown court in east London, Wilson was handed a 12 month suspended sentence – an increase of four months.

The judge amended the sentence due to a sentencing technicality rather than the reaction to the language used in court last week.

Wilson’s original sentence for sexual activity with a child remained unchanged, further counts over indecent photographs prompted the increased punishment.

Last Monday prosecution barrister Robert Colover had described the 13-year-old in court, he said: “The girl is predatory in all her actions and she is sexually experienced.”

Passing his original sentence, Judge Nigel Peters then said he had taken into account that the girl looked and behaved “a little bit older” than she was.

Sky News

Judge Mental: Judge Alan Philip Parker

Midland circuit Judge Alan Philip Parker receives the ‘Judge Mental’ award today for allowing Andrew Bateson to walk free despite pleading guilty to possessing child abuse images described as “grotesque and depraved”.

Judge Alan Philip Parker has form. Before being appointed to the circuit bench in June 2012, Alan Parker represented Paul Anthony Wilson who had filmed himself raping a 3 year old. Through his skillful advocacy Paul Wilson’s sentence was reduced because, as Alan Parker put it, ‘he had spared the jury having to watch the depraved film he’d made’ , by pleading guilty.

Since becoming a circuit judge, just a year ago, he’s really been on form. In September 2012 he allowed Kevin Edward Hughes to walk free. Solihull Maths teacher Kevin Hughes pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a 14 year old schoolgirl and making indecent images. Despite Judge Alan Parker saying, “You were engaged in a grotesque association with this girl in flagrant disregard of your professional responsibilities, demonstrating a gross breach of trust.”, he gave Mr Hughes a ‘community sentence.

By April this year Judge Alan Philip Parker was in his stride. Darren Manders who had pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent images of children.Police officers found 134 still and moving indecent images of children – including 56 hardcore images. They included girls as young as two being sexually abused by adults. Darren Manders avoided jail as Judge Alan Parker gave him a 3 year community order.

Now that’s not bad going for one year as a judge !

Judge Mental !

WHEN the police arrested a Bidford man who had accessed a website selling child pornography they found “grotesque and depraved images” on his computer.
Andrew Bateson aged 38, of Grafton Lane, had pleaded guilty to 12 charges of possessing still and moving indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography.
He was given a community sentence with three years supervision and ordered to take part in a probation programme for 100 days, which Judge Alan Parker said should be the sex offender’s programme.
In addition Bateson was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years and was made subject to an electronically-tagged curfew from 7pm to 7am for six months

Stratford Herald

Judge Mental: Judge Lindsey Kushner

They said I’d never be able to make a regular feature out of ‘Judge Mental’ but the judiciary are proving to be extremely helpful !

Judge Lindsey Kushner, looked at a sample of the 1,400 images which she, herself, couldn’t bear to watch, so extreme was it, gave Andrew Townsend a three year community order because he would not learn his lesson behind bars.

Judge Mental !

A paedophile who downloaded child pornography so horrific that a judge could not even bear to watch the evidence tapes has been allowed to walk free from court.

Andrew Townsend, 51, of Hulme, Manchester, downloaded hundreds of vile photographs but was allowed to walk free after the judge ruled he would not learn his lesson behind bars.

Judge Lindsey Kushner, who looked at a sample of the 1,400 images before sentencing him, said she could not bear to watch all the contents of one of the videos featuring extremely graphic content.

Townsend admitted 11 counts of downloading and sharing the pictures and videos after police raided his home in April last year. The judge said that what he did was not a victimless crime.

Judge Kusher told him: ‘You must be aware the subjects of these images are not indifferent to what is happening to you. The public must be made aware of just how infectious this material is.

But the judge, sitting at Manchester Crown Court, rejected the option of sending Townsend to prison and instead gave him a three-year community order.

Daily Mail

Judge Mental: Judge Graham Hume Jones

Judge Mental !

This is a going to be a regular new feature on The Needle which will be concerned with Judges who are mentally deficient in their duty.

Today’s ‘Judge Mental’ award goes to Judge Graham Hume Jones.

Two years ago Judge Graham Hume Jones sentenced Callum Evans, now 21 after he admitted six charges of making an indecent image of a child, five charges of causing or inciting a child to take part in pornography and two charges of sexual activity with a child. At that time Judge Graham Hume Jones said that banning him from Facebook would be excessive and isolate him the “social traffic” of his peers.

But less than two years later Judge Graham Hume Jones has been confronted with his own incompetence. At Taunton Crown Court in Somerset he heard how Callum Evans returned to Facebook within weeks of walking free from his court to find yet more victims. Posing as a girl variously named ‘Georgina’, ‘Georgia’, ‘Georgie’ and ‘Jade’, he tried to groom 13 boys and one girl aged between 13 and 15 in 12 months, tricking them into sending pornographic photos of themselves.

Callum Evans was found in possession of 648 sexually explicit images of children with a handful in the serious grade four category.

His Honour Judge Jones has found himself at the centre of controversy over his sentencing in other cases in recent years.

Last July he was condemned when he jailed a racing motorist who killed a schoolgirl for just 18 months.

Leanne Burnell, 21, was racing boyfriend Leonard Jones at up to 80mph in rival cars through Taunton when Jones crashed into tragic Amy Hofmeister, 13.

Jones, 42, was jailed for seven years but Burnell, who was convicted of causing death dangerous driving, was only given 18 months to the fury of Amy’s mother.

Jane Hofmeister said: “I don’t believe I have received justice today. Eighteen months – I don’t understand.

“Eighteen months is five months more than it has taken to get this case to court in the first place.”

Last December the judge stunned police and prosecutors when he freed a Romanian who was part of a gang that fleeced #3 million from 9,000 people in a cash machine con.

Leonid Rotaru, 32, was caught fitting an ATM machine with a skimming device that copied card-holders’ details.

And in April 2011 the judge said he was forced to free a pervert who downloaded over 6,000 sexual images because a prison sentence would not be long enough to rehabilitate him.

The Western Gazette