CRIMINAL DIVISION
Strand London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE PITCHFORD
RECORDER OF CARDIFF
(Sitting as a Judge of the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division)
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R E G I N A | ||
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STEPHEN LARCOMBE |
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(1) The offences were committed on more than one person on occasions well separated in time. This was not, in other words, an isolated offence.
(2) The conduct in which the appellant was prepared to indulge escalated.
(3) The appellant's physical contact was not just sexual, but also intimidatory of his victims. There was a very significant age gap between himself and his victims which served to increase the threat they experienced.
(4) The offences were committed on public transport when the victims were isolated in the immediate area from others.
(5) The effect of the appellant's predatory conduct was to cause actual and immediate fear and distress.
(6) The appellant's persistence in denial of the offences rendered the commission of further offences the more probable.
(7) The defendant had on another occasion expressed his sexual preference for boys.
(8) While the appellant was not judged yet to pose a significant risk of serious harm to the public, he was nevertheless, unless restrained, liable to cause further harm to other boys of a similar age. His continuing denials made a therapeutic approach to sentencing beyond the ability of the sentencer.