Pool pervert’s jail sentence increased
A pervert who was jailed for molesting a young boy at a swimming pool has had his sentence increased after it emerged he tried to rape the victim.
Former Maidstone man Matthew Woodgate was sentenced to four years under an extended sentence for public protection in September 2014.
The then 23-year-old had lured the eight-year-old boy into a cubicle and taken indecent photos and film of him.
But the victim later revealed the more serious nature of the offence and Woodgate, who lived in Tufton Street, admitted attempted rape.
Now, he will have to serve a minimum of a further five years before parole can be considered and he will be on licence at the end of it for two-and-a-half years.
Woodgate had been jailed for two years in August 2013 for breaching the terms of a sex- ual offences prevention order imposed for downloading child sex abuse images.
The breach involved him engaging in lewd conversation with two young boys at an Ashford swimming pool.
After his arrest his computers were seized and more indecent images were found.
Officers discovered the pool changing room photos and video. The victim was traced after inquiries at schools. He told how he met Woodgate at the pool and they went into the shower together. His father became worried because he was missing for some time.
Woodgate told the boy: “I hope you are not going to make a fuss and report me to the police like other people.”
He admitted child abduction, engaging in sexual activity with a child and possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
In 2006, when Woodgate was 15, he was arrested on suspicion of oral rape on a boy, aged seven. He was given a “final warning” and banned from unsupervised contact with children.
Under another extended sentence, Judge Jeremy Carey sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years, to be served concurrently with the four-year-term.
“I do not underestimate the impact on any child being subjected to this kind of frightening, humiliating and degrading experience, which will no doubt remain with him for many years,” said the judge.