GERARD HAYSLOP, THE PAEDOPHILE WHO EVADED JUSTICE WITH A FERRY TO FRANCE, IS JAILED IN THE UK

In October 2008, Gerard Hayslop, a 27-year-old from Burnley, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after an extensive manhunt and dramatic escape attempt. Hayslop, a convicted paedophile, had previously been found guilty of downloading indecent images of children. In a bid to avoid sentencing, he traveled from the UK to Jersey in July of the previous year to evade bail, then fled to France with his pregnant girlfriend.

Hayslop failed to appear at Burnley Crown Court for his sentencing, prompting a large-scale air and sea search when he was reported missing from Rozel campsite, sparking concern that he and his girlfriend had paddled across the English Channel in an inflatable canoe to Normandy.

Preston Crown Court was told that Hayslop was living a precarious lifestyle in France, where he was arrested in Paris last December for actions related to prostitution. He received a one-year sentence but was released in August and subsequently extradited back to the UK.

On Friday, Hayslop was sentenced for 20 counts of making indecent images of children, as well as the offence of failing to surrender to bail. Court records revealed that he had downloaded 54 images of child pornography, with two classified as level five—depicting both bestiality and torture. As part of his sentence, Hayslop was disqualified indefinitely from working with children and ordered to adhere to a sexual offences prevention order, which restricts him from contacting children under 16 without adult supervision and limits his internet use.

— Picture caption: Gerard Hayslop, 27