Paedophile campaigner plans public protest

Tuesday 08 January 2019

A mother, who poses as children on dating apps to catch online groomers, is organising a public protest to demand higher sentences and a lifetime listing on the Sex Offenders' Register for those found guilty of child sexual abuse crimes.

Nearly 150 islanders have said they will be attending Cheyenne O'Connor's 'Higher Sentences 4 Paedophiles' protest on 16 February in the Royal Square.

It comes after Ms O'Connor's actions have led to at least 12 men appearing in court over grooming offences in the past year-and-a-half.

Her first case involved a 19-year-old who had been messaging her friend’s daughter. He was sentenced to 180 hours’ community service after sending indecent images of himself to Ms O’Connor, who decided to pose as a 14-year-old girl. 

Pictured: Ms O'Connor catches local online groomers by impersonating as a teen on dating apps.

Since then, Ms O'Connor says she has been calling for higher sentences for offenders. She told Express that she had raised the subject with a couple of States Members, but was disappointed that so far nothing has been done.

However, having received support from islanders following her conquests on 3,500-member-strong Facebook page 'Unknown Jersey', Ms O'Connor decided to take matters into her own hands.

She has just launched a petition demanding mandatory three-year prison sentences sentences and a lifetime listing as a sex offender for those found guilty of crimes involving the sexual abuse of children. The petition has now gained over 1,000 signatures and will therefore receive a response from a Minister within days.

Ms O'Connor has already taken things a step further, however. She has also organised a public protest in the Royal Square at 10:00 on 16 February.

Pictured: Ms O'Connor says a lot of islanders are asking for higher sentences for paedophiles. 

The Facebook event page for the protest reads: "Many of the sentences we have witnessed over the past 18 months in the Jersey Courts are totally inconsistent and range from no jail at all, a few months in prison or even up to 10 years. We also note that convictions for the possession of cannabis can give you a lengthier sentence."

While more than 140 people have said they will be attending, Ms O'Connor says she wants to see even more. "There is strength in numbers. It's worth a try," she commented.

For Ms O'Connor a minimum prison term of three years should be imposed for attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, five years for the making and downloading of indecent images and video of children, eight years for any act of indecent assault, gross indecency or abuse and 10 years for any act of rape against a minor.

"This is the only way we can deter paedophiles from harming our children and partaking in the vile downloading of indecent images and videos of children online," Ms O'Connor explained.

Pictured: HM Attorney General Robert MacRae provides sentencing guidance to the Royal Court.

She also thinks sex offenders who have attempted to commit or committed abuse of any sort on minors, or viewed indecent images, should appear on the register for life. "I don't believe they should come off the register ever."

HM Attorney General Robert MacRae, explained that while Jersey's courts can set their own sentences, they do take into account sentencing practice in other jurisdictions, particularly in the British Isles.

In the Royal Court, where the most serious cases are dealt with, the Attorney General - or a Crown Advocate acting on his behalf - provides sentencing guidance in the form of 'conclusions.'

"Those conclusions seek a sentence appropriate to the facts of the case, the maximum sentence available, and similar past cases determined by the Royal Court and Jersey Court of Appeal,"  the Attorney General explained.

The sentence is then decided by the Jurats, who also take into account any mitigating circumstances that might apply to the defendant and any other circumstances that appear to them to be important. 

Pictured: The Royal Court, like the Magistrate's Court, is free to impose its own sentences.

The Attorney General added that, "...sentencing policy can alter from time to time."

Since August 2016, the Royal Court has been treating sexual offences involving children more severely than they had previously done. "Sentences for sexual offending against children are likely to attract higher sentences then would have previously been the case," he clarified.

In fact, the Attorney General said that Jersey's sentencing policy already goes further than many jurisdictions.

For offences involving the possession of and distribution of indecent images of children, for example, he said that the, "...Royal Court’s sentencing policy has been to impose sentences which are significantly more severe than those which would be imposed in England and Wales for similar offences."