Law's an Ass
Here's a disturbing report from The Telegraph which makes the criminal justice system look like complete ass for its practice of imposing concurrent sentences which in this case means that a dangerous paedophile, Jason Leonard, received no additional punishment for breaching his licence conditions.
And if you ask me, the Westminster politicians who passed this law should be required to debate the issues involved and explain their actions in light of Judge Woolman's comments.
After all, that's what a modern democracy should be about - not just passing laws, but reviewing how they work, in practice, once new measures are on the statute books.
Judge condemns laws that leave him powerless to give dangerous paedophile tough sentence
Judge Andrew Woolman says laws mean he has to give sex offender Jason Leonard a “completely academic” sentence after he breached his licence conditions.
Leonard had only been out of prison for a few weeks when he defied his release conditions by accessing the Internet Photo: Cavendish
By Tom Whitehead - The Telegraph
A senior judge has condemned politicians for leaving him powerless to give a “dangerous” paedophile a tough prison term.
Judge Andrew Woolman said laws had left him with no choice but to hand sex offender Jason Leonard a “completely academic” sentence after he breached his licence conditions.
Leonard, 33, had only been out of prison for child pornography offences for a few weeks when he defied his release conditions by accessing the Internet.
His breach means Leonard will return to custody to serve the remainder of his original 32 month sentence, from which he was released early.
But Judge Woolman wanted to impose an additional term for the breach to run at the end of that sentence but was not allowed in law.
Instead he was handed an eight month stretch for defying his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo), which will run concurrently with his original sentence.
Judge Woolman, at Burnley Crown Court, said: "This was a very, very deliberate breach of the SOPO and if I had the powers, I would undoubtedly have made this sentence consecutive to the current sentence.
"But Parliament for reasons best known to itself had abolished the right of judges to return a defendant to custody to serve the balance of a sentence and to impose a term to then be served. That is a sad loss of power to the judiciary and one which does not serve the public at all. The sentence today, sadly, is completely academic."
He added: " There is no evidence at the moment that you have used your access to the Internet to download indecent images of children, so I have no choice but to sentence you on what you say, that there isn't. You are clearly a dangerous sex offender. There is no question about that. I don't suppose that anything the court is going to do is likely to change your attitude."
Leonard – who believes it is "perfectly all right" for adults to have sex with children – was originally arrested in January 2012 after police had raided the home he shared with his elderly mother in Haslingden.
Officers found a stash of 251 photographs of youngsters on his computer – five of which were of the most serious kind. Inquiries revealed Leonard had also been distributing the pornography on a file sharing website – allowing fellow perverts worldwide to look at the vile pictures.
He originally intended to take his case to trial so he could air his 'distorted' views on sex to a jury. But in June 2013 he was jailed after admitting charges of distributing an indecent photograph of a child in January 2011, and allegations of making an indecent photograph of a child, between August 2011 and January last year.
He was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register indefinitely, was banned from working with children for life, and was given an indefinite sexual offences prevention order. Under the order, he was not allowed to use any device capable of accessing the Internet, unless it has the capacity to retain, and display, the history and he makes it available for inspection by police on request.
He was also prohibited from deleting the history, from using any software that deletes it, and must not possess any device capable of storing digital images unless he makes it available for police inspection on request.
Leonard was freed in October this year after serving just 14 months of his sentence. But last month police went to check on his welfare as he had been "outed” as a sex offender by a leaflet and poster campaign in the area, and found a laptop at his home.
They then unearthed an external hard drive, fitted with encryption software, which he had hidden in a plastic bag and buried in a plant pot in the kitchen. The hard drive is being examined by police experts but it may take months or longer because of their workload.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said Leonard had told police the laptop had no Internet access and he had been playing games on it. He continued : " It was apparent, on examination, it had been connected to the Internet over the preceding days." The defendant was arrested and questioned and said he bought the hard drive and encryption software before he was sentenced.
Bernadette Baxter, defending Leonard, said he bought the hard drive to download mainstream movies and TV shows whilst he was awaiting sentence. She continued : " He knows he should have disposed of it because of the sentence and he didn't do so. However, he is adamant that the device, when analysed, will not reveal any indecent images of children."
Miss Baxter said Leonard was mindful of the shame he had brought on his 77-year-old mother. She added: " He has learned a salutary lesson by being brought back to custody and being brought back before the courts."
Judge condemns laws that leave him powerless to give dangerous paedophile tough sentence
Judge Andrew Woolman says laws mean he has to give sex offender Jason Leonard a “completely academic” sentence after he breached his licence conditions.
Leonard had only been out of prison for a few weeks when he defied his release conditions by accessing the Internet Photo: Cavendish
By Tom Whitehead - The Telegraph
A senior judge has condemned politicians for leaving him powerless to give a “dangerous” paedophile a tough prison term.
Judge Andrew Woolman said laws had left him with no choice but to hand sex offender Jason Leonard a “completely academic” sentence after he breached his licence conditions.
Leonard, 33, had only been out of prison for child pornography offences for a few weeks when he defied his release conditions by accessing the Internet.
His breach means Leonard will return to custody to serve the remainder of his original 32 month sentence, from which he was released early.
But Judge Woolman wanted to impose an additional term for the breach to run at the end of that sentence but was not allowed in law.
Instead he was handed an eight month stretch for defying his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo), which will run concurrently with his original sentence.
Judge Woolman, at Burnley Crown Court, said: "This was a very, very deliberate breach of the SOPO and if I had the powers, I would undoubtedly have made this sentence consecutive to the current sentence.
"But Parliament for reasons best known to itself had abolished the right of judges to return a defendant to custody to serve the balance of a sentence and to impose a term to then be served. That is a sad loss of power to the judiciary and one which does not serve the public at all. The sentence today, sadly, is completely academic."
He added: " There is no evidence at the moment that you have used your access to the Internet to download indecent images of children, so I have no choice but to sentence you on what you say, that there isn't. You are clearly a dangerous sex offender. There is no question about that. I don't suppose that anything the court is going to do is likely to change your attitude."
Leonard – who believes it is "perfectly all right" for adults to have sex with children – was originally arrested in January 2012 after police had raided the home he shared with his elderly mother in Haslingden.
Officers found a stash of 251 photographs of youngsters on his computer – five of which were of the most serious kind. Inquiries revealed Leonard had also been distributing the pornography on a file sharing website – allowing fellow perverts worldwide to look at the vile pictures.
He originally intended to take his case to trial so he could air his 'distorted' views on sex to a jury. But in June 2013 he was jailed after admitting charges of distributing an indecent photograph of a child in January 2011, and allegations of making an indecent photograph of a child, between August 2011 and January last year.
He was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register indefinitely, was banned from working with children for life, and was given an indefinite sexual offences prevention order. Under the order, he was not allowed to use any device capable of accessing the Internet, unless it has the capacity to retain, and display, the history and he makes it available for inspection by police on request.
He was also prohibited from deleting the history, from using any software that deletes it, and must not possess any device capable of storing digital images unless he makes it available for police inspection on request.
Leonard was freed in October this year after serving just 14 months of his sentence. But last month police went to check on his welfare as he had been "outed” as a sex offender by a leaflet and poster campaign in the area, and found a laptop at his home.
They then unearthed an external hard drive, fitted with encryption software, which he had hidden in a plastic bag and buried in a plant pot in the kitchen. The hard drive is being examined by police experts but it may take months or longer because of their workload.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said Leonard had told police the laptop had no Internet access and he had been playing games on it. He continued : " It was apparent, on examination, it had been connected to the Internet over the preceding days." The defendant was arrested and questioned and said he bought the hard drive and encryption software before he was sentenced.
Bernadette Baxter, defending Leonard, said he bought the hard drive to download mainstream movies and TV shows whilst he was awaiting sentence. She continued : " He knows he should have disposed of it because of the sentence and he didn't do so. However, he is adamant that the device, when analysed, will not reveal any indecent images of children."
Miss Baxter said Leonard was mindful of the shame he had brought on his 77-year-old mother. She added: " He has learned a salutary lesson by being brought back to custody and being brought back before the courts."
