November 2014
Renwick pervert avoids jail for indecent images of children ranging between one and 15 yrs old
A pensioner given a suspended prison sentence for making indecent images of children has been ordered to register as a sex offender for an extra three years.
At Carlisle Crown Court Judge Paul Batty QC said he had made a mistake when passing sentence on 74-year-old John Arthur Sargeant at an earlier hearing. Then, Sargeant was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and made to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
But yesterday Judge Batty said he now realised that the law stipulated that in such circumstances Sargeant, of Bank House Barn, Renwick, had to be on the register for a full ten years. Sargeant was not in court for the brief hearing, and his solicitor Malcolm Dodds did not object to the amendment.
At the earlier hearing the court heard that after being charged with the offences Sargeant had gone missing from his home. He was later found sleeping in a tent on the Black Mountains range in Wales. He had serious health issues, had not been eating properly and was in need of a blood transfusion when he was arrested.
Sargeant later pleaded guilty to 12 charges of making indecent photos/pseudo-photographs of girls on dates during 2001 and 2013. He had downloaded all the images from the internet. The offences involved nine moving images and 549 still images in category A, the most serious level.
There were 22 moving and 610 still images in category B and 136 moving images and 5,625 still images in category C.
The ages of the children ranged between one and 15.
