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Paedophile killer Sarah Sands' sentence extended | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A woman who stabbed a paedophile to death in east London has had her three-and-a-half-year jail sentence more than doubled. | |
Sarah Sands, 32, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Michael Pleasted, 77, after learning he had been charged with sexually assaulting young boys. | |
He was stabbed eight times and bled to death, the trial heard. | |
The Court of Appeal ruled the sentence was too lenient and increased it to seven-and-a-half years. | |
Sands was found guilty of his death by reason of loss of control. | |
Pleasted, who had previous convictions, was on bail awaiting trial when he was killed at his Canning Town flat in east London. | |
The original case heard the mother-of-five, who was cleared of murder, had originally befriended Pleasted and taken him food. | |
However, when she found out his past she armed herself with a knife and carried out a "determined and sustained attack" at his flat. | |
Twenty-four convictions | |
After handing herself in, Sands told a police officer the victim had touched some children "so I took care of it - I stabbed him". | |
Sands' sentence was referred by the Attorney General after 30 members of the public complained about its original length, decided by Judge Nicholas Cooke QC. | |
At the time he took into account the fact she was a mother, had shown remorse and had never denied the killing. | |
But the three judges sitting at the Court of Appeal ruled that because Sands had taken a knife with her when she went to Pleasted's flat it meant the starting point for sentencing should have been 10 years. | |
Mitigating factors reduced it to seven-and-a-half years. | |
Pleasted, who also went by the name of Robin Moult, had 24 previous convictions for sexual offences spanning three decades. |