A Paedophile police officer, Richard Hale from Carterton, convicted of rape has evaded re-incarceration despite being revealed as a paedophile.
Richard Hale, 41, evaded a second prison sentence by asserting that he viewed obscene photographs of minors to assist with his post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2016, Richard Hale received a seven-year prison sentence following his arrest for the rape of a lady in Carterton in 2001.
On Thursday, April 27, Oxford Crown Court was informed that Richard Hale was freed from prison on licence in April 2020, shortly after the initial nationwide lockdown.
The court heard that as a former roads policing officer who had seen crashes on a “regular basis”, Richard Hale suffered from “significant post-traumatic stress disorder”.
Richard Hale experienced nightmares, headaches and “intrusive thoughts.”
It was suggested that this was one of the reasons why he was looking at indecent images of children.
A small number of child sex abuse images in categories A to C were found on his digital devices together with prohibited images of children and extreme pornography.
Sentencing, Judge Pringle told Richard Hale: “You say that you started to access images because it would deal with the pain you felt from some of the trauma you underwent when you were serving as a police officer.
“I frankly find that explanation difficult but I’ve read a report about you; a trauma therapy report.
“You went and got trauma therapy off your own back; at least that says something about you.”
He said: “Make no bones about it, by accessing these images you create a market and that market then takes young children and has them grotesquely abused for your pleasure.
“I hope that you remember that if you are ever tempted to look at such images again.”
Richard Hale, of Peel Place, Carterton, had earlier pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to possession of indecent and prohibited images of children and possession of extreme pornography.
The judge imposed 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.
Richard Hale must also do 120 hours of unpaid work and attend a series of sex offender rehabilitation programmes.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.