March 2016 Swimming pool predator admits attempting to rape boy in cubicle at Stour Centre, Ashford A pervert who was jailed for molesting a young boy at a swimming pool has had his sentence increased – after it emerged he tried to rape the victim. Matthew Woodgate was jailed in September 2014, sentenced to four years under an extended sentence for public protection. Then, aged 23, he had lured the eight-year-old boy into a cubicle at The Stour Centre in Ashford and taken indecent photos and film of him. But the victim later revealed the more serious nature of the offence and Woodgate admitted attempted rape. Now, he will have to serve a minimum of a further five years before parole can be considered and he will be on licence at the end of it for two-and-a-half years. Woodgate, formerly of Tufton Street, Maidstone, had been jailed for two years in August 2013 for breaching the terms of a sexual offences prevention order imposed in 2008 for downloading child sex abuse images. The breach involved him engaging in lewd conversation with two eight-year-old boys at the swimming pool. After his arrest his computers were seized and more indecent images were found. Officers discovered the photos and video of the in the changing room at the pool. He was found after inquiries were made at schools in the area. He told how he met Woodgate at the pool and they went into the shower together. His father became worried because he was missing for some time. Woodgate told the boy: “I hope you are not going to make a fuss and report me to the police like other people.” He admitted child abduction, engaging in sexual activity with a child, and possessing and distributing indecent images of children. In 2006, when Woodgate was 15, he was arrested on suspicion of oral rape on a boy, aged seven. He was given a “final warning” and banned from unsupervised contact with children. Under another extended sentence on Monday, Judge Jeremy Carey sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years, to be served concurrently with the four-year-term. “I do not underestimate the impact on any child being subjected to this kind of frightening, humiliating and degrading experience, which will no doubt remain with him for many years,” said the judge. Judge Carey said Woodgate had “come very close indeed” to actually raping the boy in the pool cubicle, and was only prevented from doing so by the victim’s father calling out for him. “This offending was described by this court in 2014 as very serious,” said the judge. “It is substantially more serious having regard now to the emergence of this fresh allegation of attempted rape. “So it is you face a substantially greater sentence – and rightly so – having regard to your significantly higher criminal culpability.” Judge Carey said it remained the position that Woodgate was a significant risk of repeated serious sexual offending until he responded to treatment. He accepted Woodgate was earnest in his desire to have such treatment, which he said was the only positive feature of the case. “You have a determination to address your depravity – your depraved interest in little children,” said the judge. “You need to find ways in which you can control those urges. “This court’s principal concern is to protect the public. Your repeated offending shows just how children are at risk at your hands.” September 2014 Pervert jailed after preying on children at Stour Centre pool in Ashford A pervert who preyed on children at a public swimming pool has been jailed for four years. It comes after Matthew Woodgate, formerly of Maidstone, was jailed in June last year for two years for breaching a sexual offences prevention order. That was placed on him for engaging in sexualised conversations with young boys at the Stour Centre in Ashford. But as police investigated that, they seized the 23-year-old’s computer and discovered images carefully hidden by Woodgate. One showed a picture of a young boy. As officers pieced together the evidence they discovered he had met the boy at the pool, and had taken the photos there. On one occasion, Woodgate walked away with the boy – leaving his frantic father fearing he had been abducted. He then got the boy to pose naked while in the changing rooms. Woodgate was charged with offences of making, taking, and possession to distribute indecent images of children. He was also charged with causing a child to engage in sexual activity and abduction. Now he has been sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court, after admitting each offence, apart from making indecent images of children. Detective Constable Karl Brett said: “Matthew Woodgate is clearly a predatory sex offender and poses a significant risk to children in our community. “Despite previous convictions and orders designed to curb his behaviour he has continued to offend.   August 2013 Convicted sex offender jailed after targeting children at Stour Leisure Centre in Ashford A sex offender – banned by a court order from targeting children – has been caught chatting with two eight-year-old boys. Matthew Woodgate, 22, had been given the ban for downloading disgusting images of children. But in June he approached the boys at the Stour Leisure Centre in Ashford– in defiance of the Sex Offences Prevention Order. He began asking them intimate questions and offered one of them money – frightening him so much he told his mother that he feared he was about to be raped. Woodgate, from Maidstone, later told probation officers he was curious to discover if the boys were “sexually aware”. The sick pervert then confessed his urges were “like floodgates opening and then drowning me in my own thoughts” and could have led to contact with his victims. But in jailing him for two years, Judge Adele Williams told him: “You have an entrenched, distorted and perverted view of sex with children and pose a high risk of harming them.” Prosecutor Edmund Burge told Canterbury Crown Court: “He was at the swimming pool and on two separate occasions he approached young boys “He engaged them in conversations which very swiftly turned into discussions about their genitals. “ The court heard that the youngsters were so alarmed they immediately reported the incidents to their parents, who alerted pool officials. “Woodgate was stopped and admitted having such conversations with the boys, saying that it was a joke which had gone rather too far.” Woodgate, of Tufton Street, Maidstone, admitted two breaches of the SOPO which was made at Maidstone Crown Court in 2008 after he admitted 22 charges of downloading indecent images of children. The court heard that in January 2010, lawyers for the pervert successfully reduced the indefinite ban on approaching unaccompanied children to three and a half years. Yet three and a half months later in April that year he admitted nine charges of breaching the order and one charge of possessing an indecent photograp He was sent to a young offender’s institute for 16 months and given another five year ban. Mr Burge said:“For a 22-year-old man he has a relatively lengthy record, which includes a 2006 official warning by police after approaching a young female child. “He has a marked tendency to try to engage young children, especially boys, in sexually explicit conversations, “ he added. Nicholas Jones, defending, said: “These are serious breaches of the order which goes to the very heart of the kind of conduct it was designed to prevent.