Mother who killed sons’ abuser wants end to offenders changing names
Demand for new law amid outrage that sex criminals can hide past identity and find jobs with children
A MOTHER who killed a paedophile after he abused her three sons is campaigning for new legislation to prevent sex offenders from hiding their past by changing their names.
Sarah Sands stabbed her neighbour Michael Pleasted, 77, to death in 2014 after she discovered he had molested her children. She served four years in prison for manslaughter.
It had emerged that Pleasted, who was a popular character on their east London estate, was a serial paedophile, who had changed his name from Robin Moult to cover up his previous crimes.
Ms Sands – whose sons, Bradley, and twins Alfie and Reece, aged 11 and 12 at the time, waived their anonymity in order to speak out – said sex offenders should be prevented from changing their names and is calling for a legal loophole to be closed. She told BBC News: “That right to change their name has to be taken away from them.”
Pleasted had 24 previous convictions for sexual offences and at the time was awaiting trial for attacks on under-13s.
Unaware of his past and the fact he was facing further charges, Ms Sands befriended the pensioner, cooked for him and kept him company.
“I thought he was a lovely old man,” she said. She allowed her sons to take Saturday jobs with him at a local newsagents. But the boys confided in their mother that Pleasted had abused them.
He was charged with sexual assault, but while awaiting trial was given bail and allowed to return home.
In November 2014, Ms Sands went to his flat where she stabbed him eight times.
She was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of a “loss of control” after telling the jury she had gone there to plead with him to admit his crimes and spare her sons the ordeal of a trial.
Ms Sands is now leading a campaign for legislation to prevent convicted sex offenders from changing their names.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP, said some paedophiles were using name changes to avoid criminal record checks needed for jobs including those working with children.
She said: “Once they have changed their names, they are able to get a new driving licence and passport in that name.
“That enables them to get a new DBS check. And we are finding that these people are then going into schools and other places where there are children and vulnerable people and exploiting their positions of trust in the most horrific ways.”
One proposal is for offenders’ documents to be marked with an endorsement at sentencing, meaning police would be automatically informed if they tried to change their name.
A Home Office spokesman said the UK had some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders.
‘These people are going into places where there are children and vulnerable people and exploiting their positions of trust in the most horrific ways’