A Keyham Paedophile, Peter Turner, has been sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to many offences, including the sexual assault of a minor. Peter Turner, formerly of St Michael Avenue, Keyham, and currently residing in Ringwood, Dorset, confessed to the sexual assault of a minor under the age of 13 that occurred in 2020.
He also admitted guilt for possessing Category A photos, the most severe classification, namely recording the sexual abuse of a kid. Peter Turner additionally entered a guilty plea to two charges of voyeurism and one charge of sexual abuse against a minor under the age of 14.
Peter Turner, 39, pleaded guilty to the acquisition of indecent pictures of a minor in March 2021, as well as three additional charges of the same offence in 2021. Turner, having been remanded into custody after a hearing at Plymouth Crown Court last month where he pleaded guilty to nine crimes, was sentenced to imprisonment by a judge at Plymouth Crown Court on Thursday.
During the sentencing, Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Mary McCarthy stated that Peter Turner had recorded the digital penetration of the kid, whose identity is protected by law, on his mobile phone. Investigators’ examination of the phone disclosed that he had conducted searches for particular types of imagery associated with the sexual exploitation of minors.
The court was told that after the girl revealed the abuse she had suffered, she told police she was warned by Peter Turner that if she said anything “she would be taken away”. The girl’s mother, in a victim impact statement, wrote how the girl was “terrified of police” when they came to her home “because she was afraid that they would take her away because of what [Peter Turner] had told her”.
Speaking of her daughter, she said Peter Turner “stole her innocence” and they had to install extra locks on the windows and doors “to help her feel safe”.
Ms McCarthy noted that Peter Turner had no previous convictions and told police he was under the influence of cocaine at the time. In mitigation, his advocate said his client had been hard working, covering a range of jobs from building tennis courts, working as a DJ and working as a chef. Judge Robert Linford, after retiring to consider his sentencing, returned to remind Peter Turner he pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial.
He told Peter Turner: “These offences were absolutely abhorrent to all right thinking members of society”, before reminding the 39-year-old that he initially denied them, resulting in the girl having to give evidence and be cross-examined in court. His late guilty plea did, at least, save others from giving evidence, Judge Linford noted.
Peter Turner was told that he was an offender of particular concern due to the digital penetration of the girl and as such he would serve two thirds of his sentence before being considered for parole and would be subject to a one year licence.
He agreed Peter Turner did deserve “minor credit” for his guilty plea, granting a five percent reduction in the total sentence. Taking into account the aggravating and mitigating factors he passed a total sentence of 11 and a half years with an additional one year licence period, minus time served. He also ordered Peter Turner to be made subject of a 10 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
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