September 2013
BBC helps paedo Escape To The Country
THE BBC helped a paedophile hunt for his dream home on TV’s Escape To The Country.
Darren Robinson, 41, was filmed trying to find a lavish South Wales pad so he could start a new life.
But he hid the fact he was facing sex abuse charges and was JAILED just weeks later.
Robinson was shown a string of rural homes where he could start a new life.
He had insisted on a four-bed pad with period features, plus at least 15 acres of land overlooking the Welsh valleys.
One property he saw was just a stone’s throw from a primary school.
But instead of moving in, the 41-year-old former university administrator was last night languishing in Brixton Prison after he admitted abusing a youngster — thought to be around 15 — in his own home.
And after the show was broadcast last Wednesday, disgusted viewers blasted the BBC.
One said: “After the recent revelations over the BBC and child-sex offenders, they should be doing their research and vetting people more thoroughly before giving them airtime.
“The BBC needs to take some accountability for this in light of everything Jimmy Savile-related.”
Dad-of-one Robinson, from South East London, lied to Beeb bosses to get on the property show — assuring them that he had no criminal record or upcoming cases.
A production company named Boundless filmed him on behalf of the Corporation as he and wife Kasia were led around three stunning houses in South Wales.
They said they were hoping to start a new life as alpaca farmers.
But in reality Robinson had been charged with the sex offences a YEAR before contributing to the show.
And less than a month after filming, he was jailed for 30 months at Woolwich Crown Court in June for eight counts of sexual activity with a child and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of abuse charity NAPAC (the National Association for People Abused in Childhood) said: “It’s the height of insensitivity to broadcast something that features somebody who’s committed such a vile crime.
“This could have huge psychological effects on a victim. It cries out for more vigilance and I’m hoping to meet the new BBC Director General to discuss things like this.”
The Beeb said they “categorically would not have broadcast” or produced the episode had they known of the police investigation.
Escape To The Country, whose presenters include Nicki Chapman and Jonnie Irwin, follows house-hunters who want to swap hectic city lives for a new rural home.
On Wednesday’s show, during which he was shown a house near a school in Roch, Pembrokeshire, Robinson said: “London seems to have got a little bit more unpleasant. So we think the time is right to enjoy the wilds of the countryside.”
