Another scalp for campaign lawyer

Steve Walker

AN Oldham campaigner for tougher sentences on child-sex offenders has helped to get the jail time of a paedophile bus driver doubled.

Pervert Jason Foster (46) of Ivor Street, Rochdale, was sentenced to two years in prison in June after admitting grooming an autistic teenage boy with sweets and persuading him to send an intimate picture of himself via Facebook.

Lawyer Steven Walker (24), from Shaw, was unhappy with the original court decision’s leniency and referred Foster’s case to the Court of Appeal, where judges doubled the former bus driver’s sentence to four years.

Greater Manchester Police, who also referred the case, expressed satisfaction over the result.

Mr Walker said: “I am happy with the decision. It is in the best interest of justice. It is very important that these cases are brought to the Court of Appeal and it is equally important that people are made aware of them.

“It is clear that it was a miscarriage of justice and I’m glad that the sentence was revised.”

Mr Walker campaigns for stricter sentences on child-sex offenders. He achieved success in July when three dangerous paedophiles were caught after he and his girlfriend Samantha Roberts (20), posed as a 12-year-old girl in a chatroom.

Mr Walker said that as a lawyer, he must do what he can when he knows an unfair sentence has been imposed or wrong decision made.

“I’m absolutely going to carry on fighting for tougher sentences,” he affirmed.