SERIAL CHILD-ABUSER GETS A "LIFE" SENTENCE IN BRITAIN -- 4 YEARS

Criminal-loving Britain again

Three paedophiles who were caught after a journalist replied to an obscene advert on a train lavatory door were jailed for life yesterday. A fourth member of the same gang received eight years. Sentencing the men at Hove Crown Court yesterday, Judge Andrew Niblett condemned their offending as "evil, in every sense of that word - abhorrent, wicked and harmful to those abused".

Trevor Haddock, 55, the ringleader, who has been sexually abusing children for at least 20 years, will not be eligible for parole for at least 12 years. Ian Jones, 43, and Derek Moody, 44, were also given life sentences and will serve at least ten and four years respectively. John Farmer, 68, was given an eight-year term.

The men were caught after Ruth Lumley, then a reporter on the Chichester Observer, saw graffiti that said "girls 8-13 wanted for sex" while travelling home to Brighton, East Sussex. She replied to the message, posing as an 11-year-old girl, and received a string of text messages in reply. "The messages got more and more sexually explicit", she said. "They were really disgusting. It was at that point that I knew I had to phone the police."

Her tip-off sparked a ten-month investigation, and a paedophile ring that had abused eight girls was uncovered. She informed British Transport Police who discovered the graffiti on a number of trains that operate in the South East. The adverts were also found in a pub in Euston station, Central London. A police officer pretended to be a 12-year-old girl called Amy and arranged to meet a man outside a Burger King in Brighton. Police were lying in wait and arrested Jones. After officers searched his flat and checked his phone records, they discovered calls to Farmer. Earlier this month the four men pleaded guilty to a string of sexual offences including rape and attempted rape.

Judge Niblett said yesterday that they all presented "a real, significant and continuing danger to young children, especially to young girls". He praised Ms Lumley for her "clear-sightedness", and said that she would receive a 250 pound award from the High Sheriff of East Sussex for her help in catching the gang.

Christine Laing, for the prosecution, singled out Haddock, who was convicted of attempted rape of a 20-year-old woman in 1984, as the central figure. "He is a persistent paedophile with regular access to young female children and their friends. He has been abusing them for at least 20 years," she said. She told the court that on one occasion he lured an eight-year-old girl to Brighton on the pretence of enjoying a day out on the pier. He and Jones gave the girl alcohol, cigarettes and the sleeping pill Nytol. A video of the girl on the pier and then being abused was central to the Crown's evidence.

Detective Chief Inspector Jeff Lister said that the videos that Sussex police had seized during the case were "shocking". The officers who had to watch them have been offered counselling. Speaking after the hearing, he said: "The sentences today have reflected the serious and horrific nature of the sexual offences committed by these men and the damage they have caused to their young victims. "These men pose a serious risk to young children and when they are eventually released they will be on the sex offenders register for life. Their victims are now being given the appropriate support but they have undoubtedly had their childhood taken away."

The Times






MORE BRITISH JUSTICE: 22 = 3

A loyalist terrorist convicted of murdering one of Belfast’s most prominent Roman Catholic solicitors was released from prison yesterday after serving less than three years. Ken Barrett, a member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters, was given a life sentence in September 2004 and was told that he would spend at least 22 years in jail for his role in the 1989 murder of Patrick Finucane. Mr Finucane, 39, was murdered during a Sunday lunch in front of his wife and children at their north Belfast home. He was shot 14 times and his wife Geraldine was also hit.

The Times






MORE ON THE CRACK COPS (FORGIVE THE PUN) AT THE LAPD

The crack Los Angeles Police department has been hard at work looking for Stephen Albert Briller ever since they added him to the city's most wanted list in November, 2004, not realizing that Briller has been serving 2 consecutive life sentences in Nevada since August, 2002.

Too bad there isn't a reward being offered for information on where to find him. Inspector Clouseau was unavailable for comment.

(Via Jerry Lerman)



(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)