A convicted pedophile whose crimes were described as “extremely serious” by the judge, has been allowed to jet off on a European vacation before sentencing after the same judge praised him for being honest about raping young girls.
British man Matthew Thompson, 48, is set to fly to the Greek island of Kos for a week-long vacation despite facing years in prison for multiple child sex offenses.
Judge Jonathan Gibson, who presided over the case at Bradford Crown Court, England, called the offending “extremely serious” after the defendant accepted ten charges in total, including assault of a child by penetration and taking indecent images of a child.
But the judge then left jaws on the floor when he agreed that Thompson, from Barnsley, should be allowed to go on a pre-paid vacation to Kos, an island in the Agean sea, which he will depart for on Thursday.
Judge Gibson told the convicted pedophile: “You’ve pleaded guilty and you will of course get proper credit for your guilty pleas in due course when you’re sentenced. You’ve been on bail and I’m not going to revoke your bail simply because you have entered honest pleas.”
The court heard that the serious abuse involved multiple assaults on two very young girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The Telegraph report: Gillian Batts, representing Thompson, pleaded with Judge Gibson to allow him to depart for his holiday, which he was scheduled to return from on October 27.
She suggested the serious nature of the case would make it appropriate for Thompson, of Barnsley, to “sign on” at a police station between 12pm and 2pm on October 28.
Ms Batts said she had advised her client that he would also need to register as a sex offender with the relevant authorities on Wednesday in order to be able to go on holiday.
The judge said he was making it a condition of Thompson’s bail that he reported to Barnsley police on October 28 to show he had returned to the UK.
He added: “As you know you are now subject to the sex offender registration provisions and you’ll need to report to the police to do that before you go.”
Thompson’s sentence date has now been fixed for November 18.
