January 2012 Man banned from contacting children after molesting girl, 10 ANTHONY Moth has avoided jail despite molesting a girl aged 10. The 58-year-old, of Far End, Sheepscombe, was also found with child porn on his computer after police arrested him and searched his home. At Gloucester Crown Court he admitted three offences of sexually touching the girl between 2009 and last year. He had already accepted a police caution for the low level child porn offences, the court was told. Judge William Hart sentenced Moth to a three-year community order with supervision and ordered him to attend the Thames Valley Sex Offender Programme. A decade-long sexual offences prevention order was also imposed, banning Moth from contact with children under 16. Moth was banned for life from working with children and was told he will have to sign the sex offenders’ register for the next five years. Prosecutor Simon Mooney said Moth had admitted the charges on the basis that they were “specimens of a course of behaviour” in which he touched the girl but not directly on the genital areas. He was found out when she complained to her family. Porn The girl later told police she had not reported it earlier because she “kept thinking he might change.” When Moth was arrested his home was searched and grade one child porn images were found on his computer. He had accepted a police caution for that, said Mr Mooney. Martin Whitehead, defending, said it was plain that, after 55 years as a good citizen, Moth was now a “troubled man.” “Sadly he began to lose his way,” he said. “The courts are familiar with people like Mr Moth finding themselves in this position.” Judge William Hart said sentencing guidelines suggested a jail term of around a year for Moth’s offences, but if he were to pass such a punishment it would mean Moth leaving prison in a few months as an untreated sex offender. Treatment was only available in prison for offenders serving three years or more, he said. He told Moth he considered it would protect young girls better if he were to undergo treatment.
