AN on-the-run paedophile who kayaked from Jersey to France with his pregnant girlfriend has been jailed for 20 months.
Gerard Hayslop (27) came to Jersey in July last year to skip bail from a UK court and escape to the continent following his conviction for downloading indecent images of children. He failed to appear for sentencing at Burnley Crown Court and instead fled to Jersey with his girlfriend, before setting off in their kayak. The couple’s disappearance sparked a major air and sea search after they were reported missing from Rozel campsite. The pair had paddled to Normandy in an inflatable canoe.
Preston Crown Court heard on Friday that Hayslop, of Burnley, lived a ‘hand-to-mouth existence’ in France and was arrested in Paris last December for offences relating to prostitution. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail but was released in August and extradited to the UK.
On Friday he was sentenced for 20 counts of making indecent images of children and the bail offence. The court heard that Hayslop had downloaded 54 images of child pornography, two of which were classed as level five, meaning they involved bestiality or torture. Hayslop was sentenced to 20 months in prison. He is disqualified from working with children indefinitely and is subject to a sexual offences prevention order which stops him contacting children under the age of 16 without adult supervision and restricts his use of the internet.
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