Woman guilty of manslaughter after stabbing paedophile neighbour to death

[BabyBoyLove]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/woman-guilty-of-manslaughter-after-stabbing-paedophile-neighbour-to-death-10381398.html Torsafe, usual disclaimers

A woman who stabbed a paedophile to death after she confronted him about child abuse has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Sarah Sands, 32, stabbed her 77-year-old neighbour Michael Pleasted eight times after hearing that he had sexually abused three children.

At the time, Mr Pleasted was on bail awaiting trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on charges of sexually assaulting two children under 13. An on-going investigation was examining allegations in relation to a third child.

He had been previously convicted of a number of other child sex offences.

Ms Sands says that she went to confront Mr Pleasted at his flat in Canning Town in east London. She says that she wanted to plead with him to admit to his crimes in order to save his young victims the trauma of going to court.

She says that she did not intend to hurt him.

However, she says that he refused to listen to her pleas and just "smirked" whilst saying that the boys were all liars who had ruined his life with false allegations.

In a fit of rage, Ms Sands says she then stabbed him eight times. He crawled from his living room to his hallway where he bled to death.

Within hours, Ms Sands handed herself into the police. She told an officer: "Who's housing a f****** paedophile on an estate, like, seriously? He was, like, asking for trouble.

"I was frightened. It was not how it was meant to go. He was meant to listen to me."

After deliberating for three days, the jury cleared her of murder and convicted her of manslaughter.

She is due to be sentenced in September.

The judge told the court that an inquiry was underway into the decision to bail Pleastand whilst he was awaiting trial for the child sex offences.

I find this remarkable:
Within hours, Ms Sands handed herself into the police. She told an officer: "Who's housing a f****** paedophile on an estate, like, seriously? He was, like, asking for trouble.

To me it sounds like intent, she was outraged he was there in the first place, and her fear seems to be mere anger, nothing in the article show any reason for fear. So I am left wondering is this only manslaughter because the victim was an (accused) pedophile ?

Also note the blaming the murder victim at the end, like he had no right to be there.

[Opus]

Yeah, that was well beyond "manslaughter."  I mean, if she just went to have a conversation with him, why did she have a knife?  She was looking for a reason to kill the guy. 

[StevenX]

A very bold new precedent was set here - if someone smirks before you stab them to death, it isn't murder. Cool.

[BabyBoyLove]

A very bold new precedent was set here - if someone smirks before you stab them to death, it isn't murder. Cool.

Of course we only have her word for what happened...

[Opus]

Of course we only have her word for what happened...

But again, she went there with a knife.  Or we presume she had a knife.  Maybe she grabbed something close to her after he "smirked" at her.  Even if that were the case, I don't believe that an eye-roll is to be considered much of a threat against her life.  I imagine that unless she can somehow prove that he threatened her life in some manner and she was just defending herself, she's fucked.  Although the court may view her as a hero and let her go. 

[AWAWAW]

That is outrageous, she should have been charged with murder, not manslaughter. I cannot understand how she was not.

Where was the provocation here? He defended himself and said he was not guilty of the crimes and according to her smirked, nothing more. I wonder how much him being a pedophile had to do with the outcome.

[BabyBoyLove]

Of course we only have her word for what happened...

But again, she went there with a knife.  Or we presume she had a knife.  Maybe she grabbed something close to her after he "smirked" at her.  Even if that were the case, I don't believe that an eye-roll is to be considered much of a threat against her life.  I imagine that unless she can somehow prove that he threatened her life in some manner and she was just defending herself, she's fucked.  Although the court may view her as a hero and let her go.

She has been convicted for manslaughter. For what happened we only have her word, but she had no real need to be there in the first place, she sought him out. So yes I am leaning towards that this was murder myself.

[Opus]

She has been convicted for manslaughter. For what happened we only have her word, but she had no real need to be there in the first place, she sought him out. So yes I am leaning towards that this was murder myself.

I misread the original.  I thought this was new and she had only been charged but she's actually been convicted of it.  Well, it's a moot point now.  Nothing can be done.  Hopefully she gets the maximum sentence since she clearly got a break with the manslaughter charge. 

[Atlantis]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33483744

Sands was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control.

Sands had armed herself with a knife and carried out a "determined and sustained attack", the court heard.

Sounds like cold-blooded murder to me.

[Gaki]

I agree - this is most assuredly murder...  I have two more articles - one from the Mirror (often quite tabloid) and the other from the BBC...  both mention that she left her home armed with a knife (and allegedly a hammer and wrench, but that is incidental).  She was going with the express intent to confront him about children.  All interview material that is published essentially states that she was not remorseful.

The most interesting commentary about whether or not the victim of murder is 'deserving of murder' is the last section of the BBC article, discussing the jurors' distress at the murdered man's release on bail... as if that should have any impact of whether or not this was truly premeditated murder

'Somebody had to protect people': Woman who stabbed convicted paedophile to death cleared of murder

    15:45, 10 July 2015
    By Ben Rossington

Sarah Sands stabbed serial child abuser Michael Pleasted eight times after drunkenly confronting him at his home last year, a court heard

A woman who knifed to death a convicted paedophile on her estate was today cleared of murder after saying 'somebody had to protect people'.

Sarah Sands, 32, wept in the dock at the Old Bailey as the jury forewoman delivered the verdict - acquitting her of murder but guilty of manslaughter due to loss of control.

Sands stabbed serial child abuser Michael Pleasted eight times after drunkenly confronting him at his home last year.

Pleasted, 77, had a record stretching back to 1970 for the abuse of young boys and had been charged with two new allegations in the months before his death.

Facing trial this summer, the Crown Prosecution Service were also considering laying a third charge against the pensioner before Sands' intervention.

Over 21 years, up to 1991, Pleasted was convicted of 24 sexual offences involving children and was jailed, the shortest sentence being nine months while the longest spanned six years.

Then, three weeks before he was killed, Pleasted was arrested and charged with two allegations of sexually assaulting young boys. Pleasted was also known as Robin Moult and locally as Mick.

Against prosecution pleas, he was given bail by a court and was allowed to return to his high-rise home.

At another court hearing on November 18, Pleasted's solicitor told a judge he would be pleading not guilty to the claims and a trial date was set for June.

He was given his liberty once more, with the condition not to have any unsupervised contact with children.

On November 28, Sands took the law into her own hands.

She sat alone in her flat across from where Pleasted lived in Silvertown, east London, and knocked back a bottle of brandy mixed with a can of diet coke. She had already downed two bottles of wine that day.

Two hours later, CCTV from the estate caught her leaving her front door, dressed differently and with her handbag on her arm hiding a kitchen knife, a hammer and and a wrench inside.

In a call to a friend, Sands sobbed and repeated "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over again before heading up to the flat opposite and confronting Pleasted over the new allegations.

Sands said she went armed because she was scared of the victim but, following an argument, she stabbed him, "poked him" she said, then ran out.

Pleasted bled out after one of the eight knife strikes hit an artery in his left arm. He was found by police in his hallway, seemingly having tried to crawl towards his front door.

During her time in the witness box in the three-week trial, Sands told the jury that when she went to his flat: "He just smirked, he was so cold."

"Pointing to her stomach, she added: "I poked him with it here."

Persuaded to hand herself in, Sands went to the police at 4am the following day and told officers: "I took care of it. I stabbed him."

In interview, where she referred to Pleasted as "the devil", she said: "Who houses a f** paedophile on an estate, like seriously? He was asking for trouble.

"I did it all by myself... somebody had to protect people, somebody had to do something."

Sands told police she was under the impression Pleasted was a "nice old man" and was harmless, before telling detectives: "He's f** harmless now, ain't he?"

Sentencing was adjourned until mid-September for psychiatric reports to be completed.

Sarah Sands guilty of paedophile killing

    10 July 2015
    From the section London

Sarah Sands was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control

A woman who stabbed a convicted paedophile to death in east London has been cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

Sarah Sands, 32, stabbed her 77-year-old neighbour Michael Pleasted eight times after finding out he had allegedly abused three boys.

Sands was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control.

Pleasted, who had previous convictions, was on bail awaiting trial when he was stabbed at his Canning Town flat.

Sands had armed herself with a knife and carried out a "determined and sustained attack", the court heard.

'Asking for trouble'

The jury was told the victim crawled from his living room and collapsed in his hallway where he bled to death.

Within hours, Sands handed herself into the police and asked an officer why Pleasted had been housed on the estate saying: "He was, like, asking for trouble."

The Old Bailey heard that before the allegations emerged, Pleasted had previously been convicted and served time for other child sex offences.

At the time of his death Pleasted was awaiting trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on two charges of sexual assault against two children under the age of 13.

Police were also investigating an allegation he had abused a third boy.

'I stabbed him'

Sands told the court she had not intended to hurt Pleasted when she went to his flat with a knife, claiming instead she wanted him to admit to his crimes so his young accusers would not have to go to court.

However Pleasted "smirked" when he answered the door and told her the boys were all liars who had ruined his life, the jury was told.

Sands said: "I was frightened. It was not how it was meant to go.

"He was meant to listen to me."

Describing the killing, Sands told the court: "I just had it (the knife) in my hand and I poked him with it in the front and that's when we both realised at the same time what had happened and he grabbed me.

"He was frightening me and I pushed him away and I left. That was it."

After handing herself in, Sands told a police officer the victim had touched some children "so I took care of it - I stabbed him".

A distraught Sands also told the police how she had previously tried to help Pleasted and had taken him food.

Previous convictions

Judge Nicholas Cooke QC told the jury an inquiry was under way into the decision to bail Pleasted, adding the jurors were clearly "troubled by the background" of the case.

Pleasted, who also went by the name of Robin Moult, had 24 previous convictions for sexual offences spanning three decades.

He served sentences of between nine months and six years for sex crimes that included indecent assaults on a boys aged under 16 and under 14.

The first offence occurred in 1970 and the last offence for which he was convicted was in 1991, the court heard.

The sentencing of Sands was adjourned for reports and will take place on a date to be fixed in September.

o.0

[BabyBoyLove]

It seems the judge that decided to put the victim on trial...

[lensman]

I read this yesterday morning and thought "oh, so now it seems that one can no longer 'murder' a paedophile, the worst you can do is commit 'manslaughter'" and it bothered me badly all day.

This seems like a terrible miscarriage of justice - I'd be interested to read the judge's summing up to see how he instructed the jury on the difference between manslaughter and murder.

I imagine that the woman is going to be treated as something of a heroine too by the gutter-minded mob and there may be pressure on the judge from the press to give her a lenient sentence. It'll be interesting to see what she gets in September. If it's a brief spell in prison or (god forbid!) a suspended sentence this could trigger a spate of murders of suspected paedophiles.

[JackJones]

There is some expression that "women are the niggers of the world" but this outrage convinces me that equally "pedophiles are the niggers of the world" and even more, we are like the homosexuals of a hundred years ago, reviled and hated by all. Though the thought is occurring to me, considering the improved status of the gay and all rainbow flags around, will the pedophile community be everyone's heroes in fifty years time? Should this terrible event be the starting call of a pedophile revolution of liberation and equality?  How about we have a design competition for a pedophile "rainbow flag" that we can proudly display in the streets?

[anonymous713]

She sounds like a deranged lunatic to me. I definitely wouldn't want someone like this living within 1000km's of me. You don't carry a knife to someone's house like that unless you intend to use it. I think her mind was bent on murder before her feet ever crossed the threshold of the man's home.

An almost as equally sad are those that support this type of vigilantism. Why even have a justice system if anyone with a grudge can just go out and kill whomever they want, claiming that the person they killed was "dangerous".

This is sad on many levels...

[Neighbor]

I read this yesterday morning and thought "oh, so now it seems that one can no longer 'murder' a paedophile, the worst you can do is commit 'manslaughter'" and it bothered me badly all day.

This seems like a terrible miscarriage of justice - I'd be interested to read the judge's summing up to see how he instructed the jury on the difference between manslaughter and murder.

I imagine that the woman is going to be treated as something of a heroine too by the gutter-minded mob and there may be pressure on the judge from the press to give her a lenient sentence. It'll be interesting to see what she gets in September. If it's a brief spell in prison or (god forbid!) a suspended sentence this could trigger a spate of murders of suspected paedophiles.

Here is a case from 2013 where someone got 10 years in jail:

Arsonist who killed sex offender in flat blaze jailed for ten years
15:50, 8 November 2013
By Birmingham Mail

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/arsonist-who-killed-sex-offender-6286643 (tor-safe, ensure scripts disabled)

Man set fire to wheelie bin outside door of Andrew Heath's maisonette, sparking huge blaze

A man who admitted killing a convicted sex offender in a flat fire in Worcester has been jailed for 10 years.

Daniel Martin, 25, set fire to a wheelie bin and pushed it up against the front door of Andrew Heath's flat in the early hours of December 14, 2011, sparking a rapidly spreading and ferocious blaze in which the 52-year-old was killed.

Sentencing Martin for manslaughter at Birmingham Crown Court, Mrs Justice Thirlwall said the crime was "shockingly stupid".

She said he had intended "to do something so frightening, it would cause him (Heath) to move away from the area where he had lived since 2001".

"You say you threw stones at his window to try and wake him and say you saw a light come on," she added.

"Whatever you did, it was too little too late.

"You say your intention was only to frighten the victim and the prosecution accept you did not intend to kill or attempt to cause really serious harm."

She added she was "not satisfied" Martin was a danger to the public, but he "was a liar and thoroughly anti-social", with a lamentable record of previous convictions, albeit not for similar offences.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall also accepted Martin had expressed genuine remorse for his crime.

She also heard prosecution evidence indicating Martin had an IQ in the lowest percentile.

Mr Heath died of smoke inhalation in what the judge said must have been a "terrifying experience", in which he would have known he would almost certainly die.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall added the fire spread quickly, burning through the door and up Mr Heath's stairway into the Chedworth Close flat.

His burned body was found by firefighters slumped against a radiator.

The victim, who was openly gay, had five convictions for gross indecency and indecent assault in the 1980s and 1990s against teenagers aged between 14 and 17 in Leicester and Birmingham, with his last conviction in 1999.

The former doorman moved from Birmingham to Worcester in 2001.

Martin, formerly of Canterbury Road, Worcester, was separately jailed for six months and two and a half years respectively for two burglaries, carried out before his arrest for Mr Heath's killing in October last year.

He was further imprisoned for six months for assaulting another man in the street in Worcester, with all the sentences ordered to run concurrently.

Afterwards, Mr Heath's sister Leia Charleson said his death had had a devastating effect on the health of their parents, who were unable to come to terms with what happened.

"Both of my parents passed away without having an answer to their only son's death, and before Daniel Martin admitted his guilt (in June)," she said.

She welcomed the outcome as "some comfort" for the family's grief.

"Despite what Andrew did in the past he did not deserve to die in such a cruel way," added Ms Charleson.

Neighbor