WILLIAM ROBINSON, FORMER MAGISTRATE FROM CANTERBURY, JAILED FOR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

In September 2017, William Robinson, a 72-year-old retired railway worker and former magistrate from The Green, Chartham, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing a young girl. Robinson, who had served as a Justice of the Peace and briefly as chairman of a magistrates' bench in London, maintained his innocence by denying 10 sex offences, but a jury at Canterbury Crown Court found him guilty.

During the sentencing, Judge Rupert Lowe addressed Robinson directly, stating, "I see you shaking your head as you have done metaphorically from the moment you were first accused, but this has been a great tragedy for many people. Let me make it clear that there is absolutely no doubt that you committed these 10 offences of which you have been convicted. And you have made the plight of your victim worse by withholding the truth."

Judge Lowe acknowledged Robinson’s previous community service as a magistrate, noting, "I accept everything that has been said about you being a hard-working railwayman and a Justice of the Peace," but condemned his secret actions. The judge described how Robinson, in covertly targeting a vulnerable child, had caused significant trauma to his victim and believed no one would believe her, which he used as a tactic to silence her.

He condemned Robinson’s misconduct, saying, "This was disgraceful offending. The longer you go on denying what you did, the more you allow your victim to suffer." After the verdict, Robinson turned to friends in the gallery and shrugged before being led away to serve his sentence.