Sex attacker's 'diabetes' sentence appeal rejected

A SEX attacker who evaded capture for more than a decade?has failed in an appeal against his sentence for indecently assaulting seven young girls.

Anthony?De Boise, 63, a former officer for Wandworth Council, was jailed for 13 years at Southwark Crown Court in 2006?after admitting he had carried out the?attacks?in Surrey and south London.

On?Tuesday this week (November 23), De Boise, of Hurtbank Cottages, Holmbury St Mary, near Dorking, took his case to the Court of Appeal in a bid to have his punishment reduced, but it was thrown out by three senior judges.

The married planning officer attacked seven girls aged between 13 and 16 at Coulsdon, Riddlesdown and Esher between 1989 and 1996.

In one incident, two 13-year-old girls were left so traumatised by the abuse at Telegraph Hill, Hinchley Wood, that they scrambled through a barbed wire fence to escape.

Another was so sickened by?De Boise's?actions that she recalled wanting to vomit, while he wished another a "happy birthday" after attacking her shortly before she turned 15.

Despite a police manhunt, he remained at large for?10 years?after his final attack, but was caught out when he was arrested for an unrelated matter and a forensic linked was made.

De Boise?claimed his actions?were down to diabetic attacks, saying in police interviews that?he had felt depressed and unwell at the time and had not wanted to hurt the girls, although he?did say?he remembered what he had done.

At the Appeal Court, his legal team argued that fresh evidence from an expert in diabetes and the high blood sugar condition, hyperglycaemia, should result in his prison sentence being reduced.

The expert said there were elements to the case which suggested?De Boise had been suffering from "hyperglycaemic events" and so was not responsible, or not wholly responsible, for his actions.

The sex attacks had also stopped around the time that his condition improved, it was said.

But Mr Justice Mackay, sitting with Lord Justice Hughes and Mr Justice Cranston, said the expert had also noted features which made it less likely that?De Boise's?blood sugar might have been to blame.

Unlike most others who experience such attacks, he remembered a lot of his actions and there was no other evidence to suggest he had been hyperglycaemic at the times of the assaults, the top judge said.

He added: "We consider it must have been the case that the appellant was aware both of what he was doing and what he had done, even to an imperfect extent in its details.

"Had one of these offences happened as a single offence, followed by an immediate detection and prosecution, we could see a good argument for the proposition that his condition should be treated as significantly mitigating.

"For it to continue over a seven-year period is a very different picture.

"We feel driven to find that he knew what he had done and, it must therefore follow, of the risk that he might do it again if he took no steps to prevent it and sought no advice and help.

"He failed to take any action to prevent recurrence of these happenings. He kept his sexual feelings bottled up and hoped to defeat them on his own."

The judges upheld the 13-year sentence.

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Mosque group struggling to raise appeal cash

THE organisation behind plans to build a new mosque in Camberley has said it is struggling to find?enough money to fight for the project.

The Bengali Welfare Association has also had?a request to postpone a public hearing to determine its appeal over the London Road project turned down.

The association said it wanted to avoid a public inquiry, which is set to take place early next year, due to the cost and fears it?would inflame community tensions.

The leadership of the mosque asked for the inquiry to be delayed until July so that a compromise plan could be fleshed out by a community working group.

However, the Planning Inspectorate has rejected the association’s bid for a postponement.

Surrey Heath Borough Council, which?turned down?the initial mosque application, also?rejected the request?for a delay.

Now, Abdul Wasay Chowdhury, from the Bengali Welfare Association, said it was struggling to raise the funds for the appeal.

He said: “We thought it would be more appropriate to have written representation as it is less costly.

“We don’t have the money to fight a public appeal. If we withdraw we lose our right of appeal. What would be a good compromise would be to push it to July.”

Lobbying

The Bengali Welfare Association launched a planning appeal in September against its defeated application to tear down a listed school and build a mosque in its place.

It originally asked for the appeal to be dealt with by written evidence, which the inspectorate initially accepted.

But last month the inspectorate changed its mind after lobbying from Surrey Heath Borough Council, which said the intense?local interest in the issue meant it merited a full public inquiry.

The inquiry will be a much more costly process for the mosque association and the council as they will need to pay for specialist legal advice and representation.

Mr Chowdhury said he was confident the community working group set up by Surrey Heath Borough Council could produce a compromise mosque plan if it was given more time.

The association asked for a delay in a letter sent to Surrey Heath Borough Council in October.

Refusal

It stated: “As you have seen we have raised on a number of occasions with the inspectorate our concerns relating to the costs of such a procedure and in our last letter we respectfully requested that the appeal be delayed.

“The inspector declined our request, we do however wish to continue to pursue this avenue and ask for the council’s support to avoid any unnecessary costs and community tension.”

In response, Brian Townley, Surrey Heath’s head of planning, said he was sceptical about the chances of a workable alternative mosque application being developed, even with a delay in the public inquiry.

He said: “I note that the community working group is continuing with the aim of developing an alternative mosque proposal.

“However, I have not at this time seen the emerging ideas and have no feel for whether such alternative proposals will overcome the reasons for refusal on the scheme subject to appeals.

“In light of these points, whilst I am not unsympathetic to the concerns you have about the costs of a public inquiry, I do not consider that the prospects of an alternative scheme coming forward over the coming months and rather uncertain prospects of a future approval is sufficient reason for me to write to the Planning Inspectorate.

“I regret that in this instance I do not intend to ask the Planning Inspectorate for a deferral of the appeals.”

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Chicken farm councillor's Tory reprieve pending appeal

A SURREY Heath councillor convicted of trading standards offences at his luxury chicken farm has been spared the axe?by the borough’s ruling Conservative group.

Tory councillors decided not to expel Ian Bell, opting to give him the chance to appeal against his conviction.

The 63-year-old from Lightwater was found guilty of five charges after a 10-day trial at Guildford Crown Court earlier this month.

Yet despite being given a reprieve by his council colleagues, Cllr Bell’s plans to stand again for his seat could be torpedoed if?local Conservatives decide not to back his bid for re-selection next May.

On Monday (November 8), the 29?Tory councillors who make up the ruling majority on the 40-member?borough council met to decide his fate.

Cllr Moira Gibson, the leader of the council and the Conservative group, said?they intended to wait and see?what the outcome of Cllr Bell’s appeal would be, but that if it was unsuccessful the?party could reconsider his position.

“We have decided to wait for that appeal process to be concluded,” she said.

“We think it is wrong to prejudge what the legal process may say.

"It is possible that the appeal could be successful and the criminal charges overturned.

“We thought it was best not to prejudge and allow him to remain a member of the group. When the process is over we will look at it again.”

After his conviction, Cllr Bell told the News & Mail he planned to hang on to his Lightwater council seat and stand at the local elections next year.

He said his solicitor had told him he had strong grounds for appeal and was preparing a case.

“I can’t think why the party would withdraw the whip over something like this," Cllr Bell added.

But he would still have to?be re-selected by?local Conservative Party members in order to stand for election again in May.

All local councillors face?the same process,?although it is usual for a sitting?member to be chosen again if they put their name forward.

However,?Cllr Gibson admitted: “I imagine he will be asked some difficult questions.”

Cllr Bell was?fined ￡2,500?and ordered to pay ￡33,462 in prosecution costs, after being convicted?of obstructing trading standards officers, not disposing of dead chickens properly and not producing records when requested by trading standards.

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Woking park attacker fails in sentence appeal bid

A BARMAN who knocked a teenager unconscious when he punched him twice during an attack in Woking Park?last year?has failed in a bid to have his prison sentence reduced.

Carl Betts, 22, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Guildford Crown Court in August after pleading guilty to assault causing?grievous bodily harm.

He punched 17-year-old Kirby Pearce twice in the head on November 26 last year, causing?near fatal injuries which could take?the victim?up to three years to fully recover from.

At the Court of Appeal on Monday (November 1),?Betts' lawyers argued the prison term was too long because the consequences of the punches were medically unusual and could not reasonably have been foreseen.

However, three senior judges ruled that, although the sentence was severe, Betts could have no complaint.

Mr Justice Hedley said: “This case raises the tensions between the culpability of the offender in the commission of the criminal act and his responsibility for the consequences of that act, when the consequences are far more serious than would ordinarily be expected.

“Those who chose to punch someone to the head, particularly if they do so twice, cannot expect to have their pleas heard too loudly when they appeal over the consequences of what they have done.”

Betts, of Dartford Road, Leicester, was riding his bike through the skate park at 2am when he encountered Kirby and his friends drinking.

They had made remarks towards him about the speed he was travelling.

Betts?then dropped his bike and walked back to the group. During the confrontation he grabbed Kirby and punched him on the jaw and temple.

The teenager was taken to hospital and later discharged.

However, the following day he was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, after developing blinding pains in his head and ear.

He underwent emergency brain surgery for?two-and-a-half hours, during which his scalp was peeled back.

Betts was arrested after his name was suggested as a suspect on Facebook.

Kirby said it had come as a shock to hear that Betts had appealed against his sentence, but he was nonetheless relieved that?his attacker?had been unsuccessful.

For more on this story, see this week's Woking edition of the Surrey Advertiser, out on Friday, November 5.

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