Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, has secured the doubling of Lewis Watts’ original sentence.
The Melton paedophile who was caught by a Leicestershire Police sting operation, has seen his sentence doubled by the Court of Appeal for being unduly lenient.
Watts received his sentence of three years after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual communications with a child, attempting to incite a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity and a breach of his sexual harm prevention order.
Watts is a serial offender, having been prosecuted in 2015 for accessing indecent images of underage children; and has been breaching court orders preventing him from contacting children online.
Following his sentence, Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton referred his case to the Attorney General for a review of his sentence.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal doubled his sentence to 6 years, 3 months, on the grounds that the original sentence was unduly lenient.
Alicia Kearns, Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton said:
I’m delighted to see Lewis Watts’ sentence doubled by the Court of Appeal. I originally referred it because I simply could not see three years as an appropriate sentence for this serial paedophile.
It’s right that the Court doubled his sentence – and I’m grateful to Lucy Frazer QC, the Solicitor General, for backing me to the hilt, and referring the sentence.
It’s extremely rare for a sentence to even be referred to the Court of Appeal. This is important for keeping the children and communities in Melton safe.
