Written by Michaela Whitton at theantimedia.org
United Kingdom — Sarah Sands, a single mother of five from East London, has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for stabbing a convicted paedophile to death. The jury of ten women and two men deliberated for three days before clearing Sands of murder and convicting her of the manslaughter of Michael Pleasted, by reason of “loss of control.”
Within weeks of hearing that her neighbour, Michael Pleasted, had sexually molested three children, Sands, 32, armed herself with a knife and stabbed him eight times at his flat in Canning Town.
After the attack, Pleasted, who was awaiting trial on two charges of sexual assault against children and was under investigation for a third, crawled into the hallway and bled to death.
During the hearing, the Old Bailey heard that Pleasted had previously served sentences for indecent assault and buggery and had 24 previous convictions for sexually assaulting boys between 1970 and 1991.
Before the new allegations emerged, the 77-year-old had become a known community figure and was running a bric-a-brac shop when Sands befriended him and began bringing meals to his flat.
During the trial, Sands sobbed, saying that she had not meant to harm Pleasted despite going to his flat with a knife. Instead, she claimed she wanted him to admit his crimes so his young accusers would not have to attend court.
On the leniency of the sentence, the judge described the case as “unique” and claimed Sands had lost control rather than taken the law into her own hands and engaged in “vigilante conduct.”
He added, “This was a case in which the defendant promptly gave herself up to the police in a highly stressed state, never disputed responsibility for the killing as a matter of fact, did not take the opportunity to get rid of evidence and demonstrated remorse.”
Sands has been in custody for 10 months and could be released on parole in 11 months time.
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She should be praised, instead the real crooks take over.
never a truer word spoken
arresting a hero and mother ?
i love how they forgot to mention that she was stinking drunk at the time,,and she had to be convinced to go to the cops,, and that she bragged to the cops about it saying,,,well hes fucking harmless now, and he smirked at me so i poked him with my knife, and some one had to do something,,,, her getting drunk first makes her liabil, and her statments impy ,knew what she was doing,, bringing the knife makes it premeditiated, i feel for her,,i would have killed the basdard too,, but i would be in jail for 20 years,,same as she should be
i would be giving the lady a medal not a prison sentence, that pedophile had destroyed so many young innocent lives. she has done the world a favor one less putrid scum pedophile of the streets. i would do the same thing but would do it slower and make him suffer before i killed him. i would not feel any remorse. the only way to rid these putrid scum pedophiles is to take their right to breathe.
She murdered somebody…. She should suffering the sentence one would get for murder!!!!
Steve is a pedophile I would reckon.
Would you feel the same way if this sick sob had molested you or someone in your family? Thease kids he molested will never be the same, for the rest of thier lives, this woman did this world a favor.
Of course no one would feel the same if it happened to their child or family member. But law and justice are not about feeling. She murdered someone. It’s not ok to take the law into your own hands, even if the dirtbag deserved it.
No one should stand over the law! No rich men, no politicians and no mothers … so, you have an agenda, you act on it, you have to deal with the consequences. not saying i can not sympathize with her, just saying actions require consequences.
best of luck to her!
Agreed. It would only cause chaos if someone stood over the law. She did the right thing, because those children suffered greatly, I can see a reason behind her actions… but we can’t look away from reality. She killed someone after all.
Wow. How fucked..I read an article 2 days ago about a 21 yr old female who slept with an 11 boy with the fathers knowledge and received a suspended sentence. Since his father was OK with it. The CHILD said he did NOT like it and knew it was wrong. This was also considered a “unique case”. This world is whack and people equal shit.
Wtf.the woman deserves a medal
I agree.. pushed to a limit we are all capable of murder like it or not. This woman was a single mother of five living next to this man, she was his friend and probably felt he was her friend for the wrong reasons… I do not blame her I think she’s a champ. Hope someone is caring for her children
IF This is a first happen in America about Stabbing a Pedophile to Death NO she MUST Not stay in jail and they must release her and it’s a GOOD experience for America to make secure life for American family
A flood of goodwill letters and gifts from a grateful public would be nice for her and make her detention more bearable.What jail is she in ?
Its still murder, so yes. She will get less punishment for turning herself in and other softening factors will also be taken into account, but we can’t have people killing other people everytime they have a moral disagreement and feel they are justified to kill someone. In this specific case, I could relate somewhat more if the statement that she wanted him to admit what he had done and it somehow escalated to murder is true if the situation was better explained. But I also think its weird that apparently she doesn’t think it is scary to visit this person with food, therefore assuming they talked too.. Why not if you are somewhat familiar with this person, try to convince him by talking? I can understand that a single mother feels frightened for her child and that the fact that this man did damaging things to kids made her angry. But then going over there with food all the time.. Isn’t that preparation of some sort, at least its possible.. Also the age of the killed man… 77 … Was he going to do more at that age? I think as a world we need to find better ways that serve justice more then the ones we have now, to deal with these people. Help them overcome it maybe if that is possible and they are not molesters. But if they are molesters then they should not live next to a single mother, because it creates a lot of tension. But I don’t have a clear cut solution for that, sorry… However I do not think of this woman as a hero. (Even less of the child’lover’ that did all those things, but him being wrong doesn’t make her crime ok).
She should do some time for murder as she did murder someone, But don’t be mis-understood, the man deserved to die.
Basically if she was praised it would open doors to vigilante justice which would in long term cripple the law system even more than it already is. The Number of women to men on the jury are irrelevant. In fact the majority of them being women probably led to a intellectual group decision with the 2 mens input. She will not be in jail for even a year, think about it. She will be back on the streets before you know it and someone will be ghostwriting a diary for her to publish. Either way it was a victory for society, One pedo fuck is dead and I am a little bit happier 🙂
1-3 years in prison is a fair trade off. It’s not like she’s gonna miss much
Don’t convict heroes!
+1 from .se.
i think she should be given death or life in prision as no one is above the law and she cant kill another person. She should have let the court handle it.
Pretty lenient tho, considering it’s manslaughter
those of you who who would trust the law to deal with any crime fairly will always be disappointed.
That’s bullshit, he should be locked straight ahead and balls cut off. Justice is what she did. She is the most honest and efficient law. Not the court that he was waiting for. Let the court handle it? Who knows what he could do in the meantime if she wouldn’t take things in her own hands?
Lock her up unbelievable they should have given her a save our babies badge and helped her if she needs any money food anything she just save someone’s child from being hurt let her go and let her be the hero she is because she could have just save ur child I’m just saying