August 2002

Outrage at pervert ruling

A JUDGE sparked outrage yesterday after ruling a man of 32 who had sex with a girl of 12 was NOT a paedophile.

He stunned a court by telling depraved Nigel Hall that “because of the climate of the time” it was important to distinguish between him and men with a sexual interest in kids.

Judge Alistair Bell said: “There is no pointer to you being a paedophile.

You were merely a man who permitted his inclinations to overcome his duty and judgment.”

But Michele Elliott, director of child protection charity Kidscape, hit back: “It is exactly what paedophiles do — permit their inclinations to overcome their judgment.

“I wonder how the judge would react if it was a 12-year-old daughter of his who was involved?”

It is not the first time the judge’s comments have landed him in trouble.

Seven years ago he said a rape victim had given her attacker “an amber light” because of the way she had dressed.

Hall had met the 12-year-old at a party earlier this year, Carlisle Crown Court heard. Their friendship developed after he started sending text messages to her mobile.

The relationship became sexual in May. They kept it a secret until a male relative of the girl spotted them kissing in the street.

He phoned Hall who apologised, but the police were alerted.

Hall, from Carlisle, pleaded guilty to two charges of unlawful sex and was jailed for a year and placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

He could have received a maximum sentence of life.

But his barrister Greg Hoare pleaded: “He is not a man who has unfortunate paedophilic tendencies.

He is a man who had an unfortunate aberration, he made one mistake.” Judge Bell appeared to agree.

“This man has had sex with an underage girl, there is a law on our statute books that says that is a crime, it is abuse.

He is a danger to young girls and should be off the streets for a lengthy period.”

Valerie Riches, president of Family and Youth Concern, said: “This gives the green light to paedophiles.

“The judge is trying to draw a very fine line between what is and what is not acceptable behaviour.”

And a spokesperson for the NSPCC said: “Sex between an adult and child can never be justified. Children do not lure adults into sex, it is the other way round.”

Judge Bell, 72, is married with a grown-up son and two daughters.

He was at the centre of a storm in 1995 when he said a rape victim had given the “amber light” to her attacker because she opened the door to him wearing a calf-length dressing gown.

Judge Bell jailed the man for just 30 months.