Carer hid boy in washing machine
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/hampshire/8488166.stm Version 0 of 1. A foster carer who helped a boy escape from a secure unit and hid him from police in a washing machine has been jailed for child abduction. Christopher Waite, 35, of Basingstoke, was not responsible for the boy but told jurors he disagreed with Hampshire County Council's care of him. Jurors at Winchester Crown Court found Waite guilty of two counts of child abduction. He was jailed for 33 months. He was cleared of rape, grooming and other sex offences against the boy. Jurors could not reach a decision on three charges of possessing indecent images of children. Sentencing Waite, Judge Guy Boney QC said the 35-year-old had become involved in a "deeply inappropriate" relationship with the boy. 'Deeply involved' During the three-month trial, jurors heard Waite was first registered as a foster carer with Hampshire County Council in 2002, but later worked for a private firm. The boy, then aged 12, absconded from children's homes in southern England and stayed at Waite's house in Basingstoke during 2007 and 2008. They had met in the town and Waite had become "deeply involved" with the boy who was "very young and very vulnerable", the court heard. Waite removed the inside of a washing machine so the boy could hide inside when police came to the house, even placing clothes by the door to conceal him, the court heard. He was finally arrested when the boy was found in his garden, but continued to help him escape from a care worker during a trip to a supermarket while on bail, jurors were told. Waite was given 15-month and 18-month terms for each count of child abduction, to run consecutively. Jurors found him not guilty of one count of rape, one count of sexual assault, one count of sexual activity with a child, two counts of grooming a child and one count of inciting sexual activity with a child. |