The real reasons why three Devon paedos walked free from court

Three Devon paedophiles have walked free from court - but will be strictly monitored by police and probation in the community. Liam Jeffs, Keith Foster and Michael Lloyd were convicted of offences at Exeter Crown Court on Thursday and Friday.

The men did not know one another and they were sentenced separately for unconnected offences. But their cases bare some crucial similarities. Each man has a sexual interest in children and each faced prison for internet-related offences.

Here DevonLive looks at their cases, the options available to the court and the reasoning behind the judge's sentences.

Name: Michael Lloyd

Age: 50

Offences: Guilty pleas to three offences of making (downloading) indecent images of children in categories A, B and C. One offence of possessing 175 extreme pornographic images of sex involving animals.

Facts: Police executed a warrant at Torquay home in November 2022 after information of images being uploaded from internet. "I know what you are referring to," said Lloyd to police who seized memory stick, hard drive and computer tower. There were 33 images in the most serious category and 60 in the remaining two. Lloyd denied to police that he had a sexual interest in children.

Sentencing Guidelines: One year for possession of images with a range of 26 weeks to three years.

Previous convictions: No

Mitigation: Martin Salloway, defending, said: "He has substantial personal mitigation having endured a very traumatic childhood that has lasted the rest of his life." He said Lloyd acknowledges he needs help. "There was not a high volume of images."

Judge: Judge David Evans said: "This case is someway past the custody threshold. People should understand that making indecent photos means downloading images that people have come across on the internet. These images were downloaded and found on your devices. The offences were committed over a relatively long period of time between late 2016 and August 2022.

"You admitted what you had been doing in police interview. It is a little discouraging you were less open with the author of the pre-sentence probation report. You must understand the awful harm involved in the activity that forms the subject matter of these images and were it not for people seeking out and downloading such images the demand for them would be that much smaller.

"In my view, given how long you were doing it and the deliberate searching online for this sort of material, it's rather implausible, unbelievable, that you have no sexual interest in children."

Taking a starting point of 12 months the judge increased the sentence upwards to 18 months to take account of aggravating factors including the extreme images being movies, the age of the children being very young, their distress, and deliberate searching of the internet.

"There needs to be some downward adjustment for mitigation," he said. This included full admissions to police, genuine remorse, no previous convictions, domestic background, in employment and relationship.

"With all that mitigation I can reduce the sentence from 18 months to 12 months and I must reduce that by one third to eight months to give you credit for your guilty pleas.

"Following the guideline on the imposition of custodial sentences it seems clear to me that it is appropriate to suspend the custodial term so it will not come into effect immediately and if you stay out of trouble and comply with all the requirements it will never come into effect. But if you reoffend you will breach the order and the eight months could be activated.

"You are a realistic rehabilitation prospect as made clear by the pre-sentence report and your risk can be adequately managed in the community. The community requirements can help to reduce that risk even further and assist you in dealing with your underlying issues."

Sentence: Eight months suspended for two years with a supervision period of two years. Lloyd must do 45 rehabiliation days with probation and will be legally obliged to stay in touch with the service.

Ten-year notification requirement with police (sex offender register). May be included in a list of people forbidden from certain employment. No prosecution costs.

A 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. The prohibitions include: not having any internet capable device without police permission; not deleting its history; make it available to police on request.

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Name: Keith Foster from Barnstaple

Age: 50

Offences: Attempted sexual communication with a child.

Facts: In February sent a friend request to a profile of a 13-year-old. The profile was a decoy set up by an adult to catch paedophiles. Foster said he was 40 and requested "naughty pics". He used WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger and expressed concerns should anyone see the 'girl's' messages and see the photos and video he sent of his penis. He said the girl was attractive and wanted a relationship. He was arrested at his home address in March.

Previous convictions: Indecent assault on a female under 14 in 1992 and 1995.

Mitigation: Stephen Nunn, defending, said: "He needs to be part of an accredited programme. If he is imprisoned he will not come out to a course. The course is imperative.

"He has spent four weeks on remand."

Judge Evans said: "You are 50 years old and I have to sentence you for attempted sexual communication with someone you believed was a 13-year-old girl. In fact, it was a profile created by an adult looking to tease out people with your sort of mindset online.

"You were enaged in messaging online with that profile between February and March of this year. You asked if she had a boyfriend and complemented her on her looks and figure. You asked if she wanted to get into a releationship and asked her to send you pictures. You sent her pictures of your private parts and turned things increasingly sexual.

"You were clearly aware how wrong your behaviour was. You were concerned about people looking at her phone. There was also classic grooming talk about trust between her and you. Your phone was found hidden under a bathroom cabinet.

"This is a worrying resurgence of your clear sexual interest in children."

Taking credit and mitigation into account the judge settled on a sentence of two years. Foster was entitled to a reduction of one third due to his early guilty plea. This brought the final sentence to 14 months. Under law the judge has to consider whether prison is the only option.

"You pose a clear risk but that risk according to the pre-sentence report is manageable within the community and you are assessed as a rehabilitation prospect."

Foster was sentenced to 14 months suspended for two years. He was given 240 hours as the punishment element of the offence. He must do 35 sessions of a sex offender programme and 30 days of rehabilitation work with probation.

He must register with police as part of the sex offender register for 10 years. Foster was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 15 years.

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Offender: Liam Jeffs from Paignton

Age: 22

Offence: Guilty pleas to three making (downloading) indecent images of children. One offence of distributing and indecent photo of a child.

Facts: Used Snapchat to upload child abuse material. A warrant was executed at his home and police seized a phone and PC tower for analysis. They found three category A videos uploaded to Snapchat in January 2022. Also messaged a paedophile on the Telegram platform. In total, police found 735 indecent images in the three categories, 259 were in the most serious category and depicted babies. Jeffs told police: "I knew this was coming at some point. I needed to help but didn't."

Previous convictions: No

Mitigation: A positive pre-sentence report that said Jeffs was a realistic prospect for rehabilitation. He was 20 at the time, open and honest with police. It was said he "fell down a rabbit hole" initially looking at adult porn on the internet and then at illegal material. He has learning difficulties and wants greater understanding of his condition. He was isolated at school and has few friends. Takes medication for depression.

Judge Evans said: "It is plain you have a sexual interest in indecent child abuse material. You said you knew this day was coming and acknowledged you needed help. The starting point is three years and nine months in custody before mitigation. You have no previous convictions, there is the passage of time since the offending but there is no suggestion you didn't know what you were doing was thoroughly wrong."

The sentence was reduced to three years and then two years for full credit for guilty pleas. This is within the suspendable range. The pre-sentence report said Jeffs was a rehabilitation prospect who wanted to tackle his issues and put them in his past.

Sentence: Jeffs was sentenced to two years, suspended for two years. He must do 40 sessions with the Horizon sex offender programme and sign a SHPO for ten years to monitor his behaviour.