Sex offender wanted on Canada-wide warrant arrested in B.C.
The Canadian Press
Vancouver police say an Ontario man wanted for sex offences in the Toronto area has been arrested.
VPD Const. Jason Doucette said Marcel Lawson, who also uses the name Marc, is in custody after being arrested late Wednesday in downtown Vancouver.
Doucette says a member of the public recognized Lawson, who has several distinctive tattoos, including the word "Mathu'' on his forearm.
Vancouver police issued a warning Tuesday advising residents to call 911 if he was spotted.
Lawson, 36, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for breaching a long-term supervision order related to convictions for sexual assault and sexual interference.
When he disappeared, Ontario Provincial Police said Lawson was known to visit the cities of Saskatoon and Vancouver.
Starved, flogged and abused: Survivor seeks redress for the sake of future generations
One Survivor's Story
By Philippa McDonald
Michael Walsh in front of the infamous fig tree which boys were chained to at the former Kinchela Boys Home site. (Supplied: Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation )
James 'Michael' Widdy Welsh is wearing a St George-Illawarra Dragons cap and a sparkle in his eyes.
We have never met before but he takes my hand in his.
"I'm not used to people being kind to me," he tells me.
As his words sink in, he places his arms around my neck. "C'mon love, give me a hug."
Nine years of his precious childhood were spent without any form of affection at the Kinchela Boys Home in Kempsey in northern New South Wales.
He recounts how startled he was when he was finally reunited with his grandmother. She held him tight and hugged him for what seemed like an eternity.
For years Mr Welsh struggled to understand how his mother could have let him go. As a young man he found her living on the banks of the Namoi River, hiding from the authorities.
As they cried together she told him "the welfare people wouldn't leave [me] alone". "They just kept coming, telling her they could give us a better life than what she could give us, they just coerced her," he explained.
All seven taken from their mother
The notorious Kinchela Boys Home where children faced horrific violence. (Supplied)
"There were seven of us that were taken from my mother," he said.
"My brother was 10, I was eight, my sister was five, brothers four and two, and twin brothers and sisters six months old.
"We journeyed down to Central station and they separated us, and myself and my older brother Barry we were put on the train to go to Kempsey.
"We were dragged though the gates of the place, it still hurts." At the age of eight, he was stripped of his identity. For the next nine years he was known as "36".
But the boys had nicknames for each other — he was "Salt" because of his light skin, his brother was "Pepper".
"It was not a good place," Mr Welsh said. "We were starved, we were flogged and were abused physically and sexually."
The boys who were brought to Kinchela were indoctrinated to forget who they were. (Supplied)
He gave his account to the Royal Commission in a private session in October 2016 along with other 'brothers' from the Kinchela Boys Home.
"We wanted people to know just how evil people can be and were to us," he said.
"You shouldn't break families down, you shouldn't split families, not only just children, you need to protect families."
The meaning of trauma
As I ask about how the cruelty and sexual abuse affected his life, Mr Welsh sighs deeply and the tears roll down his cheeks.
Michael is worried he will not be eligible for redress due to his prior convictions. (ABC News: Ross Byrne)
"You can see what's happening to me now," he said.
He describes a life of fear and distrust — of waking up ready to fight back.
"I would drink so I could sleep and not think about the things that happened to me," he said.
"I became hooked up in the system of courts, police, jails, because I told myself when I was 18 no one was going to tell me what to do again … I will do life my way."
Over three decades he found himself "going in and out of the big jails".
"The word trauma — I didn't know it existed," he said.
Mr Welsh will apply for redress under the National Redress Scheme. "It's a little bit confusing, but it's good that they're doing the redress," he said.
"The biggest problem I have is the trauma I have in my life and the trauma that's been handed down to my children and the generational trauma that goes on."
Michael does not want trauma passed down to his grand-children. (ABC News: Ross Byrne)
However, Mr Welsh is concerned he might not be eligible as he has served time behind bars.
But a redress payment would make a difference, especially for his children and grandchildren. "I would love to be able to have a property where they could build their houses," he said.
"But have a big sign out the front gate, saying 'there's no drugs, no alcohol, no swearing, it you don't like that, go somewhere else'. That's my dream."
Kinchela Boys Home was established by the Aboriginal Protection Board in 1924 and absorbed the Aboriginal school. The home was intended for Aboriginal children who were removed from their families as part of the process of 'assimilating' them into white Australian society. The victims of this process eventually became known as the Stolen Generation. Kinchela Boys Home housed between 400 and 600 boys between 1924 and its closure in 1970.[2] Bringing Them Home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, documents the brutal punishment and sexual abuse suffered by these boys.
In 1980, Kinchela Boys Home was converted into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre ('Bennelong’s Haven') for the local Aboriginal community, a number of whom were former Kinchela boys. - Wikipedia
Because the process of assimilation and the horrific abuse suffered by these survivors turned a few generations to alcohol and drugs, and, undoubtedly, turned some into child abusers as well.
Kinchela, NSW
NSW AG asks DPP to reconsider decision to not prosecute senior Catholic over CSA cover-up
By Joanne McCarthy
NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider reviewing a 2013 decision not to prosecute one of the state’s most senior Catholic educators for concealing child sex crimes.
It follows the landmark conviction of Archbishop Philip Wilson in May for failing to report child sex allegations about a Hunter priest to police and child abuse royal commission concerns about DPP decision-making review processes.
The DPP advised police in 2013 that charging the former NSW Catholic Schools Commission member and Christian Brother Anthony Whelan, 77, was “not in the public interest”, despite noting “there would appear to be a prima facie case” over his handling of allegations against teacher Thomas Keady in the 1970s.
Rob Roseworne's complaint in 2010 initiated a Catholic Church investigation. Photo: Simone de Peak
The DPP decision devastated Hunter man Rob Roseworne whose complaint in 2010 initiated a Catholic Church investigation. It found Brother Whelan, as school principal, sacked Keady from St Patricks College, Sutherland in 1979, but took no further action after four boys alleged “sexual misconduct” during a school excursion.
“Brother Whelan did not inform the police of the allegations by the four students nor did he inform their parents of the allegations they had made against Thomas Keady,” a report by professional standards investigator and former NSW police assistant commissioner, Norm Maroney said.
“He advised each student to inform his parents of the assaults.”
Brother Anthony Peter Whelan. Photo: Supplied
In a recorded statement for the church investigation Brother Whelan said he sacked Keady on the advice of the Catholic Education Office.
Keady was later convicted of further child sex crimes in the Hunter area in 1994 and died in 2012.
Mr Roseworne received a settlement from the Christian Brothers after Mr Maroney found he was abused by Keady and reported the abuse to another St Patricks College teacher, Brother John (Chris) Roberts, in 1977 when he was 11. Roberts was jailed in 2016 for child sex offences.
Brother Whelan denied Mr Roseworne’s allegation that he also reported the Keady abuse to him.
NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman said on Thursday that he had “written to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking that he consider the matters raised by Mr Roseworne”, after Liberal MP Catherine Cusack wrote to Mr Speakman to support Mr Roseworne’s review request.
“I would ask you to take an active interest in past decisions of the DPP where it was determined ‘not in the public interest’ to prosecute. In the wake of the Royal Commission, a far more enlightened and anguished public would want these cases revisited, reviewed and wherever possible prosecuted,” Ms Cusack wrote.
Mr Roseworne said he was relieved the matter was now before the DPP. “It’s been eight years of battle to get to this point. That pretty much says it all,” he said.
Attorney General Mark Speakman. Photo: AAP
In its advising to police in 2013 the DPP said the prosecution of Brother Whelan for misprision of felony – concealing a serious crime - was not in the public interest because of the “relatively low level of criminality against Whelan; his lack of antecedents [lack of criminal history]; the absence of any issue of specific deterrence; the staleness of the alleged offences and the likelihood that a conviction would result in, at best, a negligible penalty”.
In its Criminal Justice Report released in 2017 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse said it had “not particularly anticipated finding significant problems in decision-making processes” within Australian DPP offices, but investigations “revealed such problems”.
It recommended “robust and effective” internal audit processes after finding some DPP decisions failed to comply with decision-making policies. It stopped short of recommending judicial reviews of DPP decisions after noting such reviews were not favoured by the High Court or DPPs.
“We remain of the view that the absence of judicial review leaves a gap capable of causing real injustice if a prosecutor makes a decision not to prosecute, or to discontinue a prosecution, without complying with the relevant prosecution guidelines and policies and the affected victim is left with no opportunity to seek judicial review,” the royal commission said.
Newcastle solicitor Peter Kelso, who has represented some Keady victims, said the DPP’s advising on the Brother Whelan case “needs to be reconsidered”.
Although it was only five years ago the royal commission had exposed many areas that needed to be looked at again, Mr Kelso said. “In the light of the Wilson case I think it would be reasonable to have a fresh look at it,” he said.
NSW Greens MP and justice spokesperson David Shoebridge called on the DPP and police to review cases where perpetrators had been convicted to consider whether others should be charged for concealing offences.
“What the Wilson case shows is that you can get convictions. When we say it’s a landmark case it is, but on a law that’s been on the statute books for three decades and not used until very recently,” Mr Shoebridge said.
NSW remains the only Australian state where conceal-related cases against clergy have been prosecuted. In 2009 the late former Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Vicar General Tom Brennan was convicted of making a false statement after he told police he had not received any allegations about a notorious Hunter paedophile priest. A court accepted at least 10 people had reported allegations about the priest to Brennan.
In 2014 a Newcastle magistrate dismissed conceal charges against another Hunter priest. In 2017 a Hunter Marist Brother was charged with knowingly making making false statements to police and perverting the course of justice after telling detectives in 2014 that he “did not remember ever” reporting a complaint about a Marist Brother to a superior. The matter is listed for trial.
In a statement on Wednesday the Christian Brothers Oceania Province said the order and Brother Whelan “make no comment at this time”.
Mr Speakman said the NSW Government legislated new offences last week of failure to report and failure to protect against child abuse as part of a comprehensive package of criminal justice reforms in response to the royal commission.
“The Government remains committed to ensuring justice for survivors,” Mr Speakman said. The DPP said it would not comment on the matter.
Child abuse case brings outrage, but no change in Iran
Zahra Alipour
REUTERS/Gabriela BaczynskaTehran skyline as seen from Iran's Interior Ministry, Tehran, Iran, Oct. 24, 2016.
A man in handcuffs is standing in front of the camera, haltingly giving a first-person account of the pedophilia case that has shaken Iran for a month: “Four or five students came into my office. … I had some obscene images on my cell phone. … They saw them. … It was mostly a joke. … It only went as far as touching …”
In the background, angry male and female voices rise, expressing condemnation and accusations. The man answers and denies some heavier accusations, such as child rape.
The video, less than a minute long, was published in the Persian-language media back on May 28. A few hours before this video spread, Khabar Online reported on an incident that had taken place in a boys’ high school in western Tehran. According to the report, the handcuffed man in the video was an official at the private high school who “sexually harassed a number of students."
This is not the first child abuse story to be picked up by the Iranian news media. But it is a rarity for the story to be leaked to the press by desperate parents who had feared that the case would be hushed up. One of the parents who talked to Shargh said, “We decided to alert the media so we could have some support. Now, however, it has gotten out of hand and [both the parents and the school administration] wish that media had not gotten so involved in this matter.”
The attention has brought about a wider debate on education and related legislation. But after a month, the result is little more than vague promises and Iran appears to be sinking back to the culture of silence on child molestation.
Iranian filmmaker Yaser Arab told Al-Monitor, “Sexual scandals are the government's Achilles' heel. It doesn’t matter how many cases of sexual harassment exist or how many children are being abused. They only become important when they create an issue for the government. This is the painful part. This atmosphere of silence and denial has made it impossible to normalize the subject of sex education for kids, be it at school or with parents.” Arab devoted four years, from 2011 to 2015, to making "A Simple Suggestion," an in-depth documentary series on sexuality in Iran.
The first of 21 episodes was dedicated to children’s sexual education. In it, Arab underlines that in order to fight child abuse, one must be able to talk about it rather than avoid it as a taboo topic. He said that Iran is in a state of denial on child abuse.
According to Arab, no educational institutes showed any interest in his documentary. The team took the documentary to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, but it became clear that it would not show the documentary in full either. So Arab put it on the Iranian video-sharing platform Aparat, where the episodes reached 1.5 million viewers.
The state TV’s documentary channel agreed to air some of it but asked that the 140-minute episode it planned to screen be shortened to 90 minutes. Even after this adjustment, the episode still faced problems when it was aired in January 2017. Arab told Al-Monitor, “The whole thing was very weird. The host of the program, Ali Sadrinia, took me and a cleric, Mohammadreza Zaeri, on as guests. The program’s host constantly offered false statistics to prove that sexual education for children is ineffective and has instead increased the rate of sexual promiscuity and unwanted pregnancies in the West.”
According to Arab, some families who reside in northern Tehran are attending private and semi-secret educational courses so they can respond to sexual questions or detect it if their children face abuse.
“Those parents who have the time and financial means can take advantage of these expensive courses, which offer the type of education that is not yet found in Iranian schools,” he told Al-Monitor. “However, what are we to do about the middle- and working-class kids? Should sexual education be only available to a certain class of society?”
In the wake of the Tehran abuse case, the lack of proper sexual education including abuse for schoolchildren was widely criticized by media, parents and some politicians. Sociologists made statements in the media about the importance of sexual education, and officials in the Ministry of Education pledged to reassess the question of sexual education.
But the issue of sexual education has become part of a larger question, with conservative Iranians objecting to UNESCO’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The UNESCO guidelines, which include sexual education in schools, became a sensitive and controversial issue during the 2017 presidential elections. Conservative media outlets and individuals criticize the agenda as a tool that “assists secular and open-minded movements to penetrate the Iranian educational system and shape it according to Western standards.”
The pressure and criticism, including open opposition by the supreme leader, eventually blocked the agenda from being adopted. The recent child molestation case has once again made the 2030 Agenda a hot topic of discussion and even a scapegoat. Conservative politician Hossein-Ali Haji-Deligani took the parliament floor on May 30 to blame the guidelines, saying, “The crime that has taken place in the high school in western Tehran is the result of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, which is being sporadically implemented in various locations.”
The case also opened debate on whether Iranian laws protected children sufficiently from abuse. Iranian jurists emphasized the importance of passing new legislation in support of children's rights, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asked officials to punish the accused according to Sharia, which may include lashing, imprisonment, exile or the death penalty. On June 12, Gholemreza Mansouri, an official from the Public Prosecutor's Office, told Tasnim News that the case has eight plaintiffs and the defendant is accused of “promoting corruption and child abuse,” not rape.
Child molestation has only recently been considered a crime in Iran. The term entered Iran’s legal vocabulary in January 2003 with the passing of a law regarding rights of children and adolescents.
According to Monica Nadi, a lawyer and member of the legal committee of the Association for the Support of Children's Rights in Iran, the 2003 law still falls short of protecting children. A stronger law was formulated in 2011 but has been awaiting approval for almost seven years. According to Nadi, if this legislation is approved, it will be easier to combat child abuse. Among other things, it gives a role to nongovernmental organizations in directly filing complaints of abuse with judicial authorities.
Does this legislation address the issue of sexual education for children? “Not explicitly,” Nadi told Al-Monitor. “But it does talk about educating children, as well as family members and other adults who are in contact with children, about children’s rights. Therefore, a related organization such as the Ministry of Education will be required to approve a set of internal guidelines and regulations regarding children's rights, and sexual education will be a part of that.”
Two more bishops resign in Chile over child sex abuse scandal
POPE FRANCIS ACCEPTED the resignation of two more Chilean bishops following a child sex abuse scandal that has gripped the Latin American nation.
The Vatican announced the resignation of the bishop of Rancagua, 78-year-old Alejandro Goic Karmelic and the bishop of Talca, Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca, 64.
Several senior members of Chile’s Catholic Church are accused by victims of ignoring and covering up child abuse by paedophile priest Fernando Karadima during the 1980s and 1990s.
Goic offered his resignation three years ago due to his age, but the Pope did not accept it. His departure comes amid a sexual abuse scandal in his own diocese, where 14 priests have been suspended.
Those crimes were allegedly committed by a network called “The Family” over the course of at least a decade, before a member of the parish denounced them last week in a television report. A criminal investigation is underway.
Carmen Valenzuela, meanwhile, was a follower of Karadima, who was suspended for life by the Vatican. He was named by Karadima’s victims as a figure who ignored or covered up the abuse.
Several victims welcomed the news of their resignations.
“Slowly but surely… two less wicked and corrupt bishops”, Juan Carlos Cruz, now a communications executive, wrote on Twitter.
The entire Chilean delegation of bishops tendered its resignation to the pope in May after a series of meetings at the Vatican.
Earlier this month, Francis accepted the resignation of three Chilean bishops, including the controversial Juan Barros who Karadima’s victims accuse of covering up wrongdoing.
The pontiff himself became mired in the scandal when, during a trip to Chile in January, he defended Barros. However the pope later apologised to Karadima’s victims and said he had made “grave mistakes”.
Court document lists $15 million in quiet sex-abuse settlements by Ontario diocese
By SANDRO CONTENTA Feature Writer
MARY ORMSBY Feature Writer
A decade-long court battle between the Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ontario, Canada and its insurance company has disclosed $15 million in largely secret settlements to people who sued priests for sexual abuse.
The payments — listed in a document filed with London’s Superior Court — went to 50 people accusing 12 priests in the diocese of sexual abuse.
A single-page document provides a rare glimpse into how a Canadian diocese dealt with a string of accusers. (DREAMSTIME)
The single-page document provides a rare glimpse into how a Canadian diocese dealt with a string of accusers by charting the millions quietly paid to them.
View the payout amounts in our interactive graphic
Settlements like these are usually kept secret by non-disclosure agreements. This court document lifts the veil on that process with a detailed financial portrait of a troubled diocese handling sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic church for years. When legal fees, mediation costs and the price of special reports are included, the total costs of the settlements for alleged abuses that occurred during an eight-year period jumps to $17.7 million.
The abuses that resulted in the settlements — committed against boys and girls as young as 6 — took place between 1963 and 1971, a period when the diocese’s insurance coverage is being disputed in court. The settlements were struck during the last 18 years.
The list includes notorious predators like Rev. Charles Henry Sylvestre, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to sexually assaulting 47 girls. Eleven of his victims – including a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant by Sylvestre and suffered a botched abortion the priest arranged — received settlements totalling $5.2 million.
Priests who have never been publicly named as alleged abusers also appear on the list, including the late Rev. Ulysse Lefaive, accused of raping a 10-year-old girl in a Sarnia-area rectory in 1966. The alleged victim settled for $62,500 in 2013.
The largest settlement on the list — almost $2.5 million in 2004 — was for the impact of abuse by Rev. Barry Donald Glendinning on a family, including the repeated sexual assault of three brothers beginning when they were 6, 8 and 10. He had the boys in his room up to 300 times.
The bill for the disputed eight-year period isn’t final. The court document notes that seven more sexual abuse cases against priests are pending.
Police Scotland officer admits having
child sexual abuse images
A former police officer has admitted having images of children being sexually abused.
James Paul was caught with the indecent images on a computer and a USB stick at his home in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in December 2017.
The 37-year-old was suspended from his job as a constable with Police Scotland before resigning.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard he was working as a community police officer at the time of his arrest.
Paul kept the images, which included pictures of children being bound and raped, at the property he shared with his wife and children.
He admitted being in possession of the illegal images while working as a police officer, in a role believed to involve him visiting schools on a regular basis.
Paul appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court to plead guilty to the single charge against him - being in possession of indecent images of children.
The court heard his police colleagues raided his £250,000 five-bedroom home after receiving intelligence that indecent images of children were being stored at the address.
'Most extreme images'
Procurator fiscal depute Pamela Brady said 33 images were found on a black Lenovo laptop and a further five were found on a USB stick.
The prosecutor said that, of the 33 found on the laptop, five were categorised by experts as being the most extreme form of child sex abuse images there are.
Seven of the images on the laptop were categorised as being the next extreme and 21 images were rated as being at category C - the least extreme.
A further five images - all rated as being category C, were found on a USB stick Paul's wife used for work, which he began using to store the illegal images.
Sheriff Susan Sinclair called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing.
She deferred sentence until August and placed him on the sex offenders register.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the officer's appearance at court today and we await the full outcome of court proceedings."
N.Z. Man tells of rape at Catholic school
By: Georgina Campbell
georgina@newstalkzb.co.nz
This article is based on extracts from the Speaking Secrets podcast, a co-production by NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB. For the full episode with a man who says he was sexually abused by Marist Brothers, as well as a further interview with MOSAIC chief executive Richard Jeffrey, listen to the podcast on Speaking Secrets, and navigate to Episode 5- Former Catholic schoolboy. You can subscribe to Speaking Secrets on iHeartRadio and iTunes.
A man who says he was sexually violated as a child attending a Catholic school has spoken publicly for the first time about the alleged abuse.
The man, who the Herald has chosen not to name for legal reasons, claims he was raped and molested by Marist Brothers when he was a boy in the 1980s.
"Can you imagine a 10, 11-year-old boy walking home alone after school after having been sexually abused? I remember feeling as if I was not in my own body," he said.
"But it wasn't just the physical sexual abuse, it was the betrayal, because the ones - my teachers - who my parents sent me to be educated, to be looked after, to be cared for, the ones who were supposed to protect me, they were the ones who were abusing me."
The boys at his school referred to the abuse as "bumming" so he had heard the term before it happened to him.
"We all knew on some level. It wasn't alleged back then, we weren't going around alleging anything. We were simply talking about what was happening to us."
He remembers hearing about one of his classmates being told by his mother to write "private property keep out" on his underwear.
He said his brother spoke about the "bumming" one time in a casual conversation in front of their mother and she told the boys not to tell fibs.
He said they were told they were spreading scandal by talking about it.
He first spoke out meaningfully about the abuse when he returned to New Zealand a couple of years ago and called a sexual abuse helpline. Now, he felt he had an obligation to speak publicly about it.
"I'm doing so publicly now because I believe that if survivors don't speak out about sexual assault, in my case child sexual abuse, who will?
"The shame and the secrecy that I carried for so many years is now being brought into the spotlight ... it dissipates the harm that was done, it helps me heal again, but it does make me vulnerable and scared."
Police have investigated the allegations and have not prosecuted anyone to date. Two of the four accused are dead.
The Catholic Church's National Office for Professional Standards in New Zealand said it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on individual complaints, but national director Virginia Noonan said abuse was tragic and indefensible.
"The church is committed to taking these complaints seriously and offers a process to make sure each person is welcomed and listened to. This includes a thorough investigation to ensure a fair, considerate, and appropriate outcome."
The man said he did not want people to feel sorry for him or pity him.
"I want people to say isn't he remarkable; despite the fact he was abused he still has enough courage to get on with his life and to not be a victim but to be a survivor of abuse. That takes strength."
Cornwall man found with hundreds of child sex abuse images
By Chris Matthews
A pervert sobbed in the dock as a court heard how he searched the internet using sickening terms as well as being found with hundreds of indecent images of children.
Mark Clift-Matthews, 36, of Treloweth Road in Pool, appeared at Truro Crown Court for sentence on Thursday (June 28) after previously admitting three counts of making indecent images of children and one possessing extreme pornographic movies charge.
Prosecuting barrister Ramsay Quaife told Judge Robert Linford how Clift-Matthews was previously of good character but police attended his address in Pool in April 2017 following disclosure of sexualised conversations that included references to children.
Officers seized his laptop and iPad and found well over 200 indecent images of children and some containing animals.
In total the devices were found to have 16 Category A images and one movie, 118 Category B images and three movies and 109 Category C stills and one movie.
Mr Quaife added that all were in accessible files and that Clift-Matthews had searched the internet for pother material using sickening terms. Clift-Matthews told police he was responsible for the images but initially denied having a sexual interest in children.
He later said he had downloaded the files at a time when he was depressed and now regrets what he had done. Defending Clift-Matthews, Jason Beal said that he is the manager of a company that sells bathrooms and employs five people.
Sentencing Clift-Matthews, Judge Robert Linford said: “You are 36 and have never before been in any kind of trouble. On April 13 police interrogated a computer you had control of and the material they found plumbed the very depths of depravity.
“There were a number of still and moving images of children being sexually abused. You need to understand that these are not just images. Real little boys and little girls are being raped, even sometimes buggered and having implements shoved inside them for the pleasure of perverts.
“This is sickening for any right-minded person and you had a great deal of this material on your computer.”
Judge Linford noted that as it was Clift-Matthews’ first offence, it is likely that rehabilitation may be able to address his offending. He added: “There is a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation and often the first time it is tried it works.
“This better work in your case because if I see you again you will be on the end of a very, very long prison sentence.”
Judge Linford gave Clift-Matthews a 16 month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He must also complete a 30 day rehabilitation activity requirement and 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
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