BRIDGWATER PAEDOPHILE GRAHAM GLEED SLAMMED BY JUDGE OVER SENTENCING GUIDELINES
In February 2018, a highly charged courtroom scene unfolded at Taunton Crown Court as a judge expressed his deep frustration over the limitations imposed by national sentencing guidelines, which prevented him from imposing a more severe punishment on a convicted paedophile from Bridgwater.The defendant, 50-year-old Graham Gleed, residing on Old Taunton Road in Bridgwater, had pleaded guilty to possessing and downloading an extensive collection of indecent images depicting children aged between three and 15 years old.
Gleed admitted to making 54 indecent photographs classified as Category A, the most serious level of such material.
Additionally, he confessed to two other offences committed within the same timeframe, involving a further 54 images in Category B, along with a staggering 3,767 images categorized as Category C, over a period of three years.
The police investigation was initiated when officers seized his computers from his residence on February 10 of the previous year, uncovering a disturbing cache of illicit images.
Prosecutor Nikki Coombe detailed the findings to the court, revealing that Gleed had also admitted to uploading some of these images online.
She further disclosed that Gleed had a particular fixation, describing it as a Barbie fetish, which added to the severity of his offences.
The court was shown the extent of Gleed’s online activity and the disturbing nature of the images he possessed.
During the proceedings, Gleed’s defense lawyer, Rebecca Bradberry, emphasized that her client had been fully cooperative, making honest and frank admissions to police officers at the time of his arrest.
Despite this, the presiding judge, David Ticehurst, was visibly angered by the case and the constraints of the sentencing guidelines.
He expressed his dismay that the law limited his ability to impose a sentence that would allow Gleed to undergo a comprehensive sex offender treatment program.
Judge Ticehurst did not hold back in his condemnation of Gleed’s comments, particularly when Gleed told a probation officer that he believed some of the children in the images appeared to be enjoying the abuse.
The judge vividly described one of the images, which depicted a three-year-old girl being tied up and subjected to abuse, and demanded that Gleed explain how much he derived pleasure from viewing such material.
The defendant, visibly shaken, muttered that he did not know what to say.
In a powerful and emotional address, Judge Ticehurst stated, “This is what you derived sexual pleasure from.
If it weren’t for people like you, those little girls would not have suffered at the hands of offenders like yourself.
The guidelines from the National Sentencing Council are simply too lenient.” He went on to criticize the system, asserting that offenders like Gleed should face lengthy prison sentences, but acknowledged that the current legal framework rendered such measures impossible without proper treatment options.
Ultimately, the judge sentenced Gleed to a three-year community order, which includes the requirement to complete a 95-day sex offender treatment program.
He was also mandated to undertake 45 days of rehabilitation activities, perform 120 hours of unpaid work, and was placed under a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Additionally, Gleed was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years and pay costs amounting to £500.
The court’s final words to him were stern and condemning: “Everyone in this court is disgusted by you, and your behaviour.
Get out.”
