August 2005 Paedophile has prison term cut A youth theatre boss jailed for indecently assaulting two teenage girls and possessing child pornography has had his sentence cut by senior judges. James Adkins, of Farndale View, Market Harborough, was jailed for three years after he was convicted of indecently assaulting the two girls, the first of whom he molested a decade ago, the second some years later. Adkins was also permanently banned from working with children and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life. The 31-year-old was sentenced at Leicester Crown Court in March after a jury convicted him of three counts of indecent assault. He had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing 10 pornographic pictures of children on his computer. Adkins had downloaded the images from a website and left them for four days in a folder on his computer that allowed other website members to access the pictures. Adkins challenged the three-year sentence, passed for the indecent assaults, in the Court of Appeal, in London, yesterday. Judge Sir John Alliott, sitting with Lord Justice Gage and Mr Justice Bean, substituted a sentence of two-and-a-half years on grounds that insufficient account was taken of Adkins’s age at the time of his first offence. The court heard Adkins had exploited the “innocence” of his young victims and put them through the ordeal of a trial by “accusing them of being liars”. Sir John said the indecent assault offences were not the most severe of their kind, involving the pinching of bottoms, as well as fondling. March 2005 Youth theatre boss targeted girls The former director of a children’s theatre group in Leicestershire has been jailed for fondling young girls. Leicester Crown Court heard James Adkins of Farndale View, Market Harborough, targeted young girls who were desperate to be in his shows. Adkins, 30, who led the Market Harborough Youth Theatre, denied three indecent assaults but was found guilty last month. He was jailed on Wednesday for three years for the indecent assaults. He was given another three months for possessing indecent images of children. Casting assault He was first spotted cuddling a 14-year-old during a show in 1994. The court was told he was warned off by an adult but continued to touch the teenager. Several years later he assaulted another girl after casting her in a leading role in a play. He has also been banned from working with anyone under 16, and will be named on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.