Synagogue guard guilty over indedent images

VA WIFE-KILLER from Hampstead has failed in a fresh attempt to overturn his conviction.

Robert Ekaireb, a jeweller and property developer, was jailed for life in early 2014 for the murder of his Chinese-born wife Li Hua Cao with a recommendation he serve a minimum 22 years.

Ekaireb, who was 39 at the time of his trial, lost an appeal in late 2015.

But two years later his lawyers asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer the case for a new appeal after he had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

When the CRCC turned down his application, Ekaireb challenged it but the High Court has upheld its decision.

Ekaireb met his wife in 2005 in a Dublin lap dancing club where she worked. They married the following year but in October she went missing from their Hampstead flat. She was four months’ pregnant at the time.

Ekaireb was charged with her murder in 2012 although her body was never

Robert Ekaireb found. He told police that she had left him because she was unhappy in the marriage and she had not wanted the baby.

Among the evidence that led to his conviction was the recovery in 2012 of her wedding ring in a storage unit Ekaireb was renting.

The CRCC was told that Ekaireb has subsequently been diagnosed with Asperger’s — which would have been apparent if he had been psychiatrically assessed before his trial.

But as a result, his lawyers argued, the jury was not given evidence about his mental health and the effect it might have had on his behaviour in court. Instead, they were told he was “odd” and “not normal”. However, in a High Court judgment published last month, Lord Justice Hickinbottom, sitting with Mr Justice Sweeney, said the CCRC was entitled to conclude that the fresh evidence about Ekaireb’s mental health would “not have had a material effect” on his credibility in the view of the jury.

VA SYNAGOGUE security guard who downloaded more than 1,000 indecent images of children has avoided jail after admitting a “porn addiction”.

Paul Rosenberg, of Rowlands Close in Mill Hill, North West London, was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

He had pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children at Harrow Crown Court.

Rosenberg, 46, was known as a security guard for his synagogue, where he would greet young children as they entered, the court heard.

Andrew Horsell, the defence counsel, did not specify at which synagogue Rosenberg served as a security guard.

He admitted his pornography addiction to police, explaining he committed his actions because “curiosity can get the better of you”.

Judge Vanessa Francis told the defendant: “I am of the view that over a period of time you have been in some sort of psychiatric crisis which has led you to seek out images that have damaged your mental health but, more importantly, blighted the lives of children all over the world.

“I hope that there will come a time when you are able to face up to the harm that you have been causing to children.”

Officers were alerted after suspicious activity was located on his internet service provider, raiding his home on May 29.

They found 1,148 abuse images, which he was accessing from 2010 until just a fortnight before his arrest.

Rosenberg then admitted he “could not stop” himself looking at abuse images.

Dipan Varsani, prosecuting, said: “Rosenberg said he never knowingly downloaded anything.

“He said that sometimes things pop up and sometimes curiosity can get the better of you.

“He said he did not download indecent material of children.

“During his interview at the police station Rosenberg told the police he had a pornography addiction and he was already seeking help for this.

“He did say he was ashamed of his actions and that he was not interested in child pornography.

“...It has taken him to places he is not proud of.

“He went on to explain how he was

Mill Hill ashamed and how he wanted to turn his life around.”

Mr Horsell told the court that Rosenberg was a member of the “tight-knit” North London Jewish community, where the knowledge of his paedophilia had seen him “fall from grace”.

Mr Horsell said: “He plays a role in that community — he stands guard outside of the synagogue.

“This is a man who has worked all his life. He has taken significant steps off his own back.

“He knew what he needed to do and he did it.

“He is a man of intelligence, that much is obvious.”

Rosenberg was also ordered to serve seven years of a sexual prevention order, complete 50 hours of community work, 20 days of rehabilitation and pay £115 in court costs.