‘WHY DO OFFENDERS ESCAPE JAIL TIME WHILE INNOCENT CHILDREN SCREAM IN PAIN?’

Mum wants support in call for jail sentences for paedophiles

A MUM has launched a petition demanding ‘harsher punishments for paedophiles’ caught downloading indecent images of children.

Alethea Maddan, from Leek, is a keen Sentinel reader and has been horrified at the number of perverts walking free from Stokeon-trent Crown Court without a custodial sentence.

Many of the defendants are handed non-custodial sentences so they can be rehabilitated in the community, rather than being hit with a short prison sentence with no rehabilitation.

The petition – directed to the Government – is looking to gain 500 signatures and 244 people have already signed.

On her petition, Alethea said: “In today’s justice system, if you shoplift or are caught dealing drugs you are given a custodial sentence.

“However, if you are caught downloading indecent images of children, even if you are a repeat offender, you are given a community order. Where is the justice in that?

“Why are the offenders escaping jail time while innocent children are literally screaming from the pain they are going through?

“I ask you to think if it was your child. If your child had been taken from your home while you were sleeping and been subjected to pain so horrific in that moment they would pray for death, how would you feel?

“Monsters don’t live under your bed or inside the shadows, they live in our streets. They could be our friends, our neighbours, or even our colleagues.

“So I ask you to hear our children’s screams, hear their torment, hear their torture. The justice system needs to explain why we are so lenient on such terrible crimes.

“Please help to get enough signatures so we can put this to the Government and we can help to keep our children safe.”

To sign go to change.org and search under Alethea Maddan’s name.