October 2000
ANGER AS PERVERT AVOIDS JAIL TERM
THERE was uproar in court when a judge sentenced a paedophile to probation because he could not pass a tough enough jail sentence.
Judge Peter de Mille said he knew people would be upset when pervert Martin Beeson (38) was given three years probation for taking obscene pictures of a sleeping five-year-old girl.
And he had barely finished speaking when relatives of the girl began shouting angrily.
The court heard Beeson befriended the girl s mother, who allowed her to stay at his flat.
What she didn t know was that Beeson took indecent photographs of the sleeping girl.
Or that Beeson had moved to Mount Pleasant Road, Wisbech, from the Ortons area of Peterborough, after changing his name from Martin Chiles by deed poll. He had been convicted of indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl prior to 1993 and years earlier of indecent exposure.
The photographs only came to light when Beeson fell out with the child s mother, who became suspicious when she heard of his record.
Judge de Mille said he was putting Beeson on probation on condition he attended a sex offenders programme.
The judge said this wouldprotect the public better than giving Beeson a relatively short prison sentence. This way he would be monitored and controlled by the Probation Service.
The maximum sentence under Section One of the Protection of Children Act (1978) is three years.
But with time off for pleading guilty and parole entitlement, the judge knew Beeson would be behind bars for little more than a year.
He said: I have little doubt that there will be some members of the public that will regard this sentence with dismay, if not disagreement, and I express my regret that Parliament has not seen fit to increase the maximum sentence allowed.
The judge left the courtroom as relatives fired angry questions, and one said the child and her mother would probably have to move away.
He said the girl s mother was afraid Beeson could knock on her door at any time.
Hes walked and she will have to leave home. She can t feel safe with him around.
The sentence was met with disbelief by Sara Payne, who has become a campaigner for tougher sentences on paedophiles following the murder of her eight-year-old daughter Sarah.
Sara told The Evening Telegraph: Judges reasoning goes out of the window these days. It s really time we started looking at sentencing and preventing children from being hurt.
It s disgusting, it really is. It s time children started being put first.
Mike Magee, defending, said Beeson planned to marry a woman who can t have children for medical reasons and the relationship was helping him.
