By Sammie Jones-
A Dragon’s Den reject who lived a double life as a paedophile has had his ‘unduly lenient’ prison sentence increased by senior judges.
Police discovered thousands of images of child abuse after searching Richard Hazell’s home and business. Hazel is a violent rapist who was jailed after forcing a14,year old girl into bushes by holding a glass to her neck. He had been jailed for four years and nine months for abusing four young girls, but a review concluded his sentence was too soft .
His sentence was increased to seven years and three months by three judges at the Court of Appeal today. The paedo was rejected by the Dragons at the UK popular Dragon den’s show- a show that features rich businessmen who assess the proposals of aspiring entrepreneurs, and decide whether to invest in their idea for a share of their business.
The judge in his original case had failed to reflect the seriousness of the overall offending,’ appeal Judge Lady Justice Hallett.stated. The court heard Hazell,from Hertordshire , had preyed on pre-teen girls. He touched them indecently above and underneath their clothing, fondling their genitals and bottoms. When police searched his home, they found Hazell had a deeper interest in paedophilia.
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His computers revealed almost 3,000 images of child pornography, some of it involving actual abuse of children as young as three. Senior judges said his sentence was too soft at the Court of Appeal. He had also himself taken photographs of children on a beach during a holiday in Egypt and doctored one image to include his own face. The case was heard at the London court today after a reference by attorney general Jeremy Wright QC on the basis that the sentence was too soft. Violent asylum-seeker wins £80,000 compensation for being ‘falsely imprisoned’ Increasing the term, Lady Justice Hallett, sitting with Mr Justice King and Judge Adele Williams, said it did not match the seriousness of what Hazell had done.
He had little mitigation, having used his good character to put himself in a position where he had access to children to abuse, she said. She said the collapse of his marriage and the loss of his business were all down to his own actions. Some chickens visited elderly dementia patients to stop them feeling lonely She continued: ‘The sexual assaults themselves may not have been at the more serious end of the scale, but they had a severe impact upon the victims. ‘In our view, the judge should have given greater recognition to that fact. ‘Furthermore, some of the indecent images were of the worst kind. These, it should be remembered, are real children being subjected to rape. ‘We have reached the conclusion that the sentence is unduly lenient and we must increase it.’
The increased sentence calls attention to the leniency of judges in a number of paedophile cases, and this increased sentence calls for toughter attention to how judges give us sentences to paedos.
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