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| Woman guilty of Canning Town paedophile killing | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A woman who stabbed a convicted paedophile to death in east London has been cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. | |
| Sarah Sands, 32, killed her 77-year-old neighbour Michael Pleasted after finding out he had allegedly abused three boys. | |
| Sands was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control. | |
| Pleasted had been on bail awaiting trial when he was stabbed eight times at his Canning Town flat. | |
| Sands had armed herself with a knife and carried out a "determined and sustained attack", the court heard. | |
| 'Asking for trouble' | |
| The jury was told the victim crawled from his living room and collapsed in his hallway where he bled to death. | |
| Within hours, Sands handed herself into the police and asked an officer why Pleasted had been housed on the estate saying: "He was, like, asking for trouble." | |
| The Old Bailey heard that before the allegations emerged, Pleasted had previously been convicted and served time for other child sex offences. | |
| At the time of his death Pleasted was awaiting trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on two charges of sexual assault against two children under the age of 13. | |
| Police were also investigating an allegation he had abused a third boy. | |
| Sands told the court she had not intended to hurt Pleasted when she went to his flat with a knife, claiming instead she wanted him to admit to his crimes so his young accusers would not have to go to court. | |
| However Pleasted "smirked" when he answered the door and told her the boys were all liars who had ruined his life, the jury was told. | |
| Sands said: "I was frightened. It was not how it was meant to go. | |
| "He was meant to listen to me." | |
| Describing the killing, Sands told the court: "I just had it (the knife) in my hand and I poked him with it in the front and that's when we both realised at the same time what had happened and he grabbed me. | |
| "He was frightening me and I pushed him away and I left. That was it." | |
| Sands told police how she had previously tried to help Pleasted and had taken him food. | |
| 'Previous convictions' | |
| Judge Nicholas Cooke QC told the jury an inquiry was under way into the decision to bail Pleasted, adding the jurors were clearly "troubled by the background" of the case. | |
| Pleasted, who also went by the name of Robin Moult, had 24 previous convictions for sexual offences spanning three decades. | |
| He served sentences of between nine months and six years for sex crimes that included indecent assaults on a boys aged under 16 and under 14. | |
| The first offence occurred in 1970 and the last offence for which he was convicted was in 1991, the court heard. | |
| The sentencing of Sands was adjourned for reports and will take place on a date to be fixed in September. |