BUILDER JAILED
Branded ‘sadistic’
THIS “sadistic” construction firm boss jailed for forcing children to work for him and subjecting them to violent punishments was arrested last week after going on the run from police.
Robert George Morris was ordered to hand himself in at a police station after being sentenced to three years at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
But the 47-year-old, of Caergeiliog, near Holyhead, Anglesey, failed to do so and was being hunted by officers across the north west.
North Wales Police issued an appeal to help find him before colleagues in Merseyside took him into custody – it’s thought he was in the Birkenhead area.
Morris pleaded guilty to three charges of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 in August this year, but avoided a custodial term when a judge handed him an 18-month suspended sentence at Mold Crown Court.
But that sentence was overturned after it was deemed “much too soft” by Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC, who referred the case to London’s Court of Appeal to look at again.
The court heard how Morris “injured” three children with weapons including a hammer, bottle and a screwdriver.
“He forced them to fight and “strangled” one of them to the point the child passed out.
Lady Justice Rafferty locked him up after hearing the youngsters had been subjected to cruel treatment and “sadistic behaviour” by Morris over a prolonged period.
Eventually the children complained about their treatment at his hands and he was arrested.
He was intitially spared prison after telling a crown court judge he had suffered a head injury in a car crash that affected his behaviour.
But Lady Justice Rafferty, sitting with Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Morris, ruled: “This sentence was unduly lenient. The appropriate sentence in this case is one of three years.”