BRISTOL OFFENDER JOHN LANGFORD'S JAIL SENTENCE CUT IN 2017
In August 2017, a Bristol man named John Langford, a pensioner, had his prison sentence reduced following his initial conviction for historical child abuse.Langford, from Tregarth Road, Ashton Vale, was originally sentenced to five years after admitting to three indecent assaults committed between 1960 and 1968 on two young victims under the age of 14.
The crimes involved molesting a boy under 10 years old after a fishing trip in the early 1960s, and inappropriately touching a girl aged between 11 and 13 on two separate occasions.
Langford’s criminal case resurfaced after his victims reported the abuse to police last year, leading to his arrest and subsequent guilty plea.
In March, he was imprisoned at Bristol Crown Court for a five-year term.
However, in a decision at the Court of Appeal in London, his sentence was reduced to four years.
The court heard that Langford’s lawyers argued that a five-year sentence was excessively harsh considering his advanced age and health issues.
It was noted that Langford suffers from a potentially dangerous sleep disorder and other medical ailments.
The lawyers also pointed out that the original sentencing judge did not sufficiently account for the maximum penalties that were legally available at the time the offenses occurred.
Allowing the appeal, Mr.
Justice Foskett, together with Lady Justice Hallett and Mr.
Justice Goss, stated: "In our judgment, an overall sentence of four years would have been sufficient to meet the justice of the case."
