September 2020

Manx paedophile who attacked girl has sentence increased

A paedophile who sexually assaulted a young girl in a motorhome has been jailed following an appeal.

Charles Cover, 66, attacked the girl as she slept, trying to place his hands in her underwear.

She later reported him and he was handed an 18-month suspended sentence in July after being found guilty of indecent assault and gross indecency.

The sentence was referred by the Attorney General to the appeal court, which raised it to 21 months in prison.

The decision came after the case sparked a protest calling for harsher punishments for sex offenders on 28 August.

About 60 people attended the protest outside Douglas Courthouse last week and chanted “enough is enough”.

In addition, a petition calling for paedophiles to be given mandatory prison terms was created in reaction to the sentence and received more than 9,200 signatures.

A new Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Bill is due to be debated by the Legislative Council later this year and would update the current laws, passed in 1992.

Cover, of Christian Street, Peel, assaulted the girl, who was aged around 12 at the time, on a day between May 2015 and July 2016, Douglas Courthouse heard.

He was arrested in October 2018 after the victim reported the incident.

Prosecution advocate James Robinson said Cover had “never admitted remorse” and had “never accepted” he committed the offences.

Public confidence had “been undermined” by the original sentence, he added.

July 2020

He should have been jailed

There’s been outcry at the suspended jail term handed out to paedophile Charles Cover.

Cover, aged 66, of Christian Street, Peel, was found guilty by a jury of gross indecency and indecent assault of a young child

The family of the victim were visibly shocked as Cover walked free from court with an 18-month suspended sentence.

Between May 2015 and July 2016, Cover assaulted a girl in a motorhome. She was aged 11 or 12 at the time.

The victim’s mother said Cover had been someone they had trusted and his actions had devastated the family.

Sentencing him, Deemster Kainth described him as a ’very stupid and foolish man’ who had deprived his victim of a wonderful childhood.

A victim impact statement said Cover’s actions had left a terrible impact on the girl’s life.

She has suffered from anxiety and been kept awake at night thinking about what happened.

It had impacted on her school work and she had also been left feeling unable to do normal activities like having sleepovers at friends’ homes

Deemster Kainth handed Cover an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months to allow for probation work.

Cover will also be subject to a 12-month supervision order, be placed on the sex offenders’ register and be subject to a sexual offences prevention order for seven years.

He must also pay the victim £1,000 in compensation.