Police win legal bid to extend Thetford paedophile's prison sentence
Stuart Andrew will now spend 5 years behind bars
Last updated 20th Jan 2022
Police have won a legal bid to get the jail sentence handed to a convicted paedophile from Thetford extended.
Stuart Andrew, 34, formerly of Market Street, was handed three years in prison in October after admitting to five counts of sexual assault, three charges of taking an indecent image of a child and a further count of voyeurism.
His sentence has now been increased to five years after it was ruled unduly lenient by the Court of Appeal.
He was arrested in September 2018 after police recieved reports of a boy in Halstead being sexually assualted.
His laptop and phone were examined by officers who found a number of indecent videos and evidence that Andrew had sexually assaulted two other boys..
All of the children were later identified by police.
Detective Sergeant Paul Ross, of Essex Police, led the appeal against Andrew's sentence.
He said: “Stuart Edwards poses a very real danger to children and this decision acknowledges that.
“He documented the abuse he inflicted and now faces the foreseeable future behind bars.
“The victims showed incredible bravery in reporting what had happened to them. I hope this decision will represent justice for them.”