Paedophile freed after judge said victim was 'sexual predator' STILL poses risk to children, says his OWN lawyer

By Jack Doyle and Mark Duell

• Judge Nigel Peters's comments condemned by campaigners and PM
• Neil Wilson, 41, had lured victim aged 13 to his home in Romford, Essex
• She stripped out of her school uniform and performed a sex act on him  
• Judge says girl 'egged him on' and handed Wilson suspended sentence
• Barnardo's boss: 'Children can never truly consent to their own abuse'
• CPS says barrister - who also used word 'predatory' - 'won't be instructed in ongoing or future cases involving sexual offences in meantime'

Controversy: Judge Nigel Peters has been criticised after describing a sex abuse victim as 'predatory'

The paedophile spared jail after a judge said his 13-year-old victim was ‘predatory’ could still pose a risk to children, his own lawyer has revealed.

It came as the Prime Minister condemned the description of the girl as a failure of the criminal justice system to 'stand up properly for victims'.

Neil Wilson, 41, lured the teenager to his home where he watched her strip out of her school uniform before she performed a sex act on him.

He was also found to have images of child abuse in his possession. But he received a suspended sentence on Monday by Judge Nigel Peters, who said the girl was ‘predatory' and 'egging you on’.

The judge also said he took into account that the girl looked and behaved ‘a little bit older’.

But as fury grew over the case, it emerged that during Wilson's sentencing, solicitor advocate Rebecca Blain said on his behalf: 'Police came to his house and he made lengthy admissions.

'He said he watches pornography and then told police he does watch hardcore porn but he had deleted them as they were not on his computer.

'He poses some risk but not an imminent risk and his treatment should be in the community and not in custody.'

David Cameron said the description of the girl 'isn't appropriate', adding: 'We need a criminal justice system that stands up properly for victims. The victims of crime should always be at the centre of our thinking.'

Last night the Attorney General’s Office confirmed that the sentence will be reviewed in response to a string of complaints - a move which was welcomed by Mr Cameron today.

Under fire: Judge Nigel Peters, originally from Hendon, north-west London, was pictured leaving Snaresbrook Crown Court today

That means a senior law officer will examine the punishment to see whether it was ‘unduly lenient’. If he considers it too soft, the sentence could be referred to the Court of Appeal to be increased.

The Crown Prosecution Service described the language, also used by the prosecution counsel, as 'inappropriate', with a spokesman adding: 'The transgressor in this case was the defendant.'

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The CPS added today that is considering barrister Robert Colover's involvement in sexual offence prosecutions and 'will not instruct him in any ongoing or future cases involving sexual offences in the meantime'.

Mr Cameron added: 'The CPS themselves have said that this isn’t appropriate, the Attorney General is going to look into the case and we need a system that properly stands up for victims.'

'It is appalling that after the scandals of Jimmy Savile and Rochdale these awful Lolita prejudices are still being served up in court, and by the prosecution of all people'

Emily Thornberry MP, Labour's shadow Attorney General

The initial sentence sparked fury among children’s campaigners. Barnardo’s deputy director of strategy, Alison Worsley, condemned the sentence and the description of the victim in court.

She said: ‘Children can never truly consent to their own abuse. It is plain wrong to imply in any way that the experiences of sexually exploited children are something they bring on themselves.’

And Emily Thornberry MP, Labour's shadow Attorney General, said: 'It is appalling that after the scandals of Jimmy Savile and Rochdale these awful Lolita prejudices are still being served up in court, and by the prosecution of all people.'

Examination: The office of Attorney General Dominic Grieve has confirmed that the sentence will be reviewed in response to a string of complaints

Wilson met the schoolgirl when she asked him to buy cigarettes for her while she was playing truant.

'The girl was predatory and was egging you on'

Judge Nigel Peters

Over two weeks, he bombarded her with phone calls and text messages, and she visited him at his home in Romford, Essex.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that the abuse did not come to light until the girl – whose identity is protected – told a friend, who then called the police.

Officers searched Wilson’s home and found a stash of images and videos depicting child abuse and bestiality. He pleaded guilty to two counts of downloading child pornography and one of sexual activity with a child.

'Inappropriate': Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the description of the girl as 'predatory' as a failure of the criminal justice system to 'stand up properly for victims'

Sentencing Wilson - who now lives in York, North Yorkshire - on Monday, Judge Peters told him: ‘You have come as close to prison as is imaginable.

'The girl is predatory in all her actions and she is sexually experienced. She appeared to look around 14 or 15'

Robert Colover, prosecuting

'I have taken into account that even though the girl was 13, the prosecution say she looked and behaved a little bit older.

'You knew she was not nearly 16, as she said, and your plea of guilty recognises that you knew.

‘Allowing her to visit your home is something we have to clamp down on and in normal circumstances that would mean a significant term in prison.

Lenient: Paedophile Neil Wilson was spared a jail sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court

‘On these facts, the girl was predatory and was egging you on. That is no defence when dealing with children but I am prepared to impose a suspension.’

The eight-month term was suspended for two years – meaning Wilson will not go to jail as long as he commits no further crimes in that period. 

JUDGE PRESIDED OVER PERVERTED CHOIRMASTER'S ACQUITTAL

Judge Nigel Peters QC, 50, born in Hendon, north-west London, was called to the Bar in 1976 and took silk in 1997.
He worked mainly as a criminal prosecutor at courts across London and became a recorder in 1998, regularly sitting at the Old Bailey.
In his role as a part-time judge in 2011, he presided over the acquittal of perverted choirmaster Stephen Douglas-Hogg on child sex charges.
Douglas-Hogg had already been jailed by a different judge for four-and-a-half years in 2009 after he admitted indecently assaulting five boys at St Paul’s Cathedral Choir School in the 1980s.
Following his sentence, other former pupils came forward to say they had also suffered at his hands.
They also claimed he involved his former colleague and partner Jane Violaris, 49, in creating an ‘atmosphere of intimidation and latent homosexuality’.
She was cleared in 2010 on the direction of a judge at the Old Bailey and Hogg was due to face a retrial on charges of buggery and indecent assault.
But following difficulties with witnesses, prosecutors decided to offer no evidence against Douglas-Hogg and Judge Peters ordered formal not guilty verdicts be recorded in February 2011.
Shortly before his appointment to the circuit bench last year, he prosecuted former Essex cricketer Mervyn Westfield for match-fixing.
Westfield was jailed for four months after he admitted accepting £6,000 from a gambling syndicate to bowl so that a specific number of runs would be chalked up in the first over of a match between Durham and Essex in September 2009.
Judge Peters is a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s and serves as chairman of its membership committee.
Before studying law at Leicester University, Judge Peters was educated at the Hasmonean Grammar School for Orthodox Jews in Barnet, north London.

He will also face probation supervision for three years, must allow police to examine his computer and also attend a sex offenders’ programme.

The prosecutor in the case will also face scrutiny after he, too, appeared to suggest that it was at least partly the girl’s fault.

Mr Colover told the court that the sex act was ‘forced upon’ Wilson by the victim.

He said: ‘The girl is predatory in all her actions and she is sexually experienced. She appeared to look around 14 or 15 and had the mental age of a 14- or 15-year-old despite being younger than that.

‘There was sexual activity but it was not of Mr Wilson’s doing. You might say it was forced upon him despite his being older and stronger than her.’

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said: ‘The case has been drawn to the attention of this office as a possibly unduly lenient sentence.

‘This means it’ll be considered  by a law officer (the Attorney or Solicitor General) who will decide whether it should be referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

‘The law officers have 28 days to make their considerations, this office will ask the CPS for more information on the case and the decision will be announced once all the information has been considered.’

A CPS spokesman added: 'The word predatory in this context should not have been used and is of real concern to the CPS. It is not consistent with the work that we have undertaken alongside the judiciary and others in the past year to improve attitudes towards victims of abuse.

'We expect all of our prosecutors, including self-employed barristers who act on our behalf, to follow our guidance in these very difficult cases.

'The director of public prosecutions (DPP) will be undertaking a review of this case to determine what happened and to decide what action needs to be taken.

'We are now considering the involvement of this barrister in sexual offence prosecutions and have advised his chambers that we will not instruct him in any on-going or future cases involving sexual offences in the meantime.'

As well as receiving three complaints, the CPS has been confronted by a petition, with 15,000 signatures and counting, demanding the DPP Keir Starmer investigates the language used by Mr Colover.

The petition was started by the founder of EveryDay Victim Blaming, who is known only as Jo.

She said: ‘When I heard about this story it took me back to a very tough time in my life. I've moved on now - but I work with women and girls for whom the horror of sexual violence is still very real.

‘I started this Change.org petition because people in positions of power need to really understand how much harm they do by these kind of damaging, ill-informed and sexist comments.’

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