November 2012

Pensnett teen avoids jail for sex attack

A PENSNETT teenager who carried out a string of serious sex attacks on a young boy has been spared jail.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Michael Dudley told defendant Daniel Bate he was just able to take what was an “exceptional course” that would not deprive him of his liberty.

Bate had denied raping a child under 13 years of age, attempted rape and sexual assault but he was convicted by the jury at the end of his trial.

The judge said: “It seems to me this is an extremely rare case the like of which I have never come across in all my years at the bar or on the bench.

“It is my duty to protect the public and I also have to send out the message that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated.”

But he said the interests of the public would be best served if he sentenced the teenager, of Blackwater Close, to the longest possible community order.

The judge said that ordinarily they were offences that were met with substantial terms behind bars of “many years.”

But he added: “It is an exceptional course, contributed to by the views of the victim’s family about what I should do but they are not the only factor.”

Bate was made the subject of the three year order coupled with three years supervision and ordered to attend the Sex Offenders group.

He was further ordered to register as a sex offender for five years and barred from ever working with children.