PHILLIP SKITT'S APPEAL REJECTED IN WIGAN COURT, RELATED TO CHILD SEX OFFENCES

In February 2012, a Wigan man named Phillip Skitt, aged 56, was unsuccessful in his appeal against his prison sentence related to his involvement in a paedophile ring. Skitt, of Orrell Road, Orrell, was convicted of multiple serious offences, including encouraging the rape of a three-year-old girl. He also secretly recorded a naked 15-year-old girl and offered to show the footage to a co-accused during an online conversation.

Skitt was sentenced to eight years in prison, with an additional three-year licence period. His convictions included two counts of encouraging a sexual offence, five counts of taking indecent photographs of a child, and one count of voyeurism. During the Court of Appeal this week, Skitt challenged the severity of his sentence. However, the judges rejected his appeal, affirming that the crown court judge was 'entitled' to determine he was a dangerous offender.

A co-defendant of Skitt, Joseph John Hawley, received a reduced sentence following his involvement. Hawley, 39, of Boundary Street, Bolton, had filmed himself molesting and raping a young girl and streamed the footage online. Both Skitt and another individual had encouraged Hawley to carry out the abuse. Hawley was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court in October the previous year and sentenced to an order of imprisonment for public protection—similar to a life sentence—with a minimum term of at least eight years before consideration for parole.

The appeal court this week reduced Hawley’s minimum sentence to six years and eight months, citing that the original term was "too long." The investigation that uncovered these crimes was part of a larger international effort led by the National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre in Canada, which examined internet chatrooms implicated in the offences.