Harsh criticism for judge over light sentence and condoning statement to sex offender

English judge goes light on sex offender. Via Google Images

English Judge Mary Jane Mowat told an  admitted sex offender: “I don’t criticize you for being a teacher who’s attracted to children,” while handing him a suspended sentence, according to The Telegraph newspaper.

She further told the suspect, 63-year-old David Armstrong,  “Many teachers are (attracted to them) but they keep their urges under control both when it comes to children and when it comes to images of children.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, gave the following response: “Teachers are professionals whose interest is ensuring children and young people achieve their educational potential…To suggest their interest in pupils could understandably be anything else is totally unacceptable.”

Armstrong (who is married) was arrested after a teaching assistant saw files on his laptop computer with names like “rape wife” and “nude model,” according to The Telegraph. Police reportedly found 4,500 indecent images and videos on two laptops and a hard drive. Armstrong admitted five charges related to making indecent photographs of children between 2007 and 2010. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and put on a sex offenders list for 10 years. The judge also barred him from working with children and ordered him to undergo treatment.

Source: msnbc.msn.com