I love this law in the UK, where a sentence can be challenged for being too light or too heavy. The Solicitor General can then make adjustments to the sentence as he did here.
Dangerous paedophile's jail sentence increased by Solicitor General
A paedophile who groomed and sexually abused multiple girls across the UK has had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General intervened.
Following a referral from Ellie Reeves KC MP, his sentence was increased by four years and six months under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme on 17 April.
Reeves welcomed the decision by the Court of Appeal and commended the victims for their "extraordinary courage and bravery" throughout their "horrific ordeal".
The trial, at Gloucester Crown Court, heard how Johnson met his victims online where he groomed them before travelling across the UK to molest them.
He also filmed the abuse and threatened to share the footage if they stopped complying with his demands.
In one case, he groomed a 13-year-old girl online before taking her to a secluded woodland on Dartmoor, in Devon, where he raped her in a tent.
The child tried to end contact with Johnson afterwards but he threatened to show her family what had taken place.
In another case, he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl at a hotel.
He then moved to Gloucestershire to be closer to her, sexually abusing her for another two years.
The trial heard how his victims were left suicidal, had suffered with depression and panic attacks, dropped out of school and failed to complete GCSE exams.
When Johnson was arrested, numerous electronic devices were seized from his home in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
They revealed multiple child sexual abuse videos and Johnson had logged details of his offending in a calendar app.
After his initial arrest, Johnson was granted police bail and fled to the Republic of Ireland.
Irish police tracked him down and he was extradited back to the UK in June 2025.
Johnson admitted 16 sex offences relating to children aged between 13 and 16.
'Horrendous abuse'
"Derek Johnson is a dangerous paedophile," said Reeves.
"He systematically groomed teenage girls he met online before subjecting them to horrendous and sustained mental and physical abuse.
"I welcome the court's decision to increase Derek Johnson's sentence, preventing any further vulnerable victims coming to harm.
"I want to commend the extraordinary courage and bravery shown by the victims throughout this horrific ordeal."
Johnson is now facing a prison sentence of 19 years and six months with a licence extension of five years.
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There are about 50 countries in the world where adoption by gay couples is illegal, not counting those countries where gays are illegal. This is why.
Baby was sexually abused before being killed by man adopting him, court told
Boy died aged 13 months after ‘routine abuse’ by Jamie Varley and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, jury hears
A baby boy was “routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted” before he was killed by a secondary school teacher adopting him, a jury has heard.
Jamie Varley, the teacher, 37, and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were in the process of adopting Preston Davey.
Varley is facing a charge of murder along with 25 other charges relating to sexual and physical mistreatment of the baby. McGowan-Fazakerley has been charged with allowing the death of a child and four other offences.
On the first day of their trial at Preston crown court, Peter Wright KC, prosecuting, said the Blackpool couple were “in a seemingly stable and loving relationship”.
But the evidence would show, he said, that they were “wholly unsuited to the role of adoptive parents”.
“Sadly, this fact only became so patently obvious when, for Preston Davey, it was too late,” he added.
Wright said it was “a highly emotionally charged case”. “It is inevitable that it will provoke strong feelings in anyone who hears the details of this case,” he said.
The baby was placed with the couple in April 2023, aged nine months. Four months later he was taken by them to an A&E department suffering from cardiac arrest.
Despite the efforts of medical staff, the baby died. A postmortem gave his cause of death as acute upper airways obstruction, a result either of a smothering, most likely with a hand or soft fabric, or by the insertion of an object or objects into his mouth.
Wright said: “As terrible as it is, this tragedy was not the result of some dreadful yet unforeseen accident, or natural phenomenon.
“The evidence gathered during the investigation into his untimely death revealed a much more sinister pathology.
“We say the evidence demonstrates that he was murdered by one of the people entrusted with his wellbeing; one of his proposed adoptive parents.
“We say the person responsible for killing Preston Davey was the defendant, Jamie Varley.”
Wright said the jury would hear evidence that in the care of the defendants, Preston, “in the final months of his brief life … was routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted”.
He told jurors to “steel themselves” as images were shown on screen of the child after he had been sexually assaulted.
Varley had also taken a number of images and videos of the abuse, the jury was told.
The prosecutor said the jury would see videos from Varley’s phone including one of the seemingly unattended baby “slithering and sliding” round in a bath for 14 minutes while Varley “never once intervened and just recorded it … not even speaking”.
The jury heard that at the time of his death, Preston was found to have sustained about 40 traumatic injuries. His injuries included 30 external bruises.
Wright said the baby had bruises on his thigh that medical experts said were “consistent with a slap with an open hand”. There were bruises to the forehead consistent “with a gripping of the little boy’s head”.
Varley denies murder, manslaughter, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.
McGowan-Fazakerley denies allowing the death of a child, three counts of child cruelty and one count of the sexual assault of a child.
The trial continues.
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