The hysterical baying of Westminster mobs grows ever louder but for today I am going to ignore it and concentrate on other things.

I am not one of the ‘hang ’em and flog ’em’ brigade but there are times when the administration of justice in this country seems most peculiar and leaves a vaguely nasty taste in my mouth.

At Preston Crown Court this week, a teenage sex offender who used the internet to prey on schoolgirls walked free after a judge ruled that he was going through a ‘difficult time in his teens.’ 

Didn’t we all, but that surely is no excuse for paedophilia.

Nineteen year old Kyle Sweet targeted three youngsters between the age of thirteen and fourteen over social media during a predatory online campaign between 2017 and 2019.    

He asked them for sexualised videos and sent pictures of his own genitalia but was eventually discovered when the girls’ mothers became aware of what was happening. Police detained Sweet at his Blackpool home in December last year over explicit communications with one victim. They then bailed him but he carried on with his activities.

He targeted two other girls while officers investigated the online chats. He was rearrested in February and has been in custody since then. In Court he pleaded guilty to causing a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual communication with a child. Pretty hideous offences, you will agree but Sweet was only given a three-year community order after reports were submitted that he probably suffered from ADHD, was ‘incredibly immature’ and had been pestered for sexual favours by fellow inmates while on remand.

Judge Andrew Woolman told him: ‘You have no previous convictions and were clearly in a difficult time in your teens. You are diagnosed with possible ADHD and the author of your pre-sentence report describes you as ‘incredibly immature.’ You are an isolated individual and find it difficult finding relationships with people of your own age and that’s perhaps why you tend to approach younger girls.

‘You have had time whilst in prison to consider the seriousness of what you have done. 

‘While in prison you have been pestered for sex by other prisoners and while prison officers have tried to protect you, they have not been able to do so completely.’

The judge went on to say that he had taken some time to ‘reflect’ and had decided the best course of action was to issue a community order instead of imprisonment. 

I am sure the learned judge was sincere in giving his ruling but if I had been the parent of any of the lasses involved, I would have been extremely upset at what has to be a travesty of justice. Particularly as the Mother of one of them actually spoke to Sweet and reminded him of just how young her daughter was.

The Judge finished up by telling Sweet, “Do not breach this order or you’ll be in a serious mess.”

That must have left him trembling in his boots!

With so many British schools discouraging competition in sports for fear that failure will scar pupils for life, it is strange how many ‘Olympic Games’ have sprung up of late.

I read a report on the WorldSkills Olympics recently held in Kazan which I believe is somewhere in Darkest Russia. Believe it or not, Britain won two gold medals, one silver, one bronze and fifteen ‘medallions of excellence.’ The biggest British successes came in the fields of beauty therapy, aircraft maintenance and car painting.

Perhaps Bunter Johnson will confer knighthoods on the successful competitors, if only to distract those people howling for his head.

I am not sure what event I could qualify for and win a gold medal but Baron Pierre de Coubertin who founded the modern Olympics must be turning in his grave.