PARENTS of young children should be wary of these paedophiles who avoided prison despite sickening offences in Worcestershire.

The following five child sex offenders have all avoided jail despite being convicted of their crimes.

Malvern Gazette:

KEITH HOLLOWAY, 81, Worcester

In January 2019, Keith Holloway of Worcester was spared prison despite repeatedly flouting a court order to protect children.

Holloway, now 66, had previously thrust his exposed genitals against a three-year-old girl in a supermarket, filmed under the skirts of young women and offered a girl of eight an ice pop, telling her she was ‘beautiful’ and inviting her to use his new shower.

But Holloway was not sent to jail by Judge Nicholas Cole at Worcester Crown Court because the most recent breach was deemed too ‘minor’ and because his defence barrister argued that prison would be ‘crushing’.

Malvern Gazette:

DAVID KIMBREY, 28, Ledbury and Worcester

David Kimbrey, who has autism, was caught for a third time making indecent images of children including the sexual abuse of toddlers was spared jail.

The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to making 143 category A images, the most serious bracket, which showed adults raping children.

He also admitted making 70 images at category B, 139 at category C, a single count of possession of extreme pornographic images involving animals and possession of 1,028 prohibited images of children.

A warrant was executed at the defendant’s home address in Camp Hill Road, Worcester in November 2016 by members of the online child exploitation team.

The defendant’s mother answered the door and several devices were seized including USB memory stick found in the pocket of Kimbrey's jeans and two laptops.

Images were found in an inaccessible thumbnail format.

The children being abused in the category A images were aged between two and three years. In the category B images the children were said to be aged six to seven and in the category C images they were aged between two and four. The bestiality images involved a woman having sex with a pig.

The judge took into account that the defendant could 'develop suicidal feelings of an extremely strong kind very quickly'.

Judge Tindal sentenced him to two years in prison, but they were suspended for two years and ordered him to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and 50 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the devices on which the images were found, made a sexual harm prevention order and ordered him to make a contribution of £350 towards the £535 costs requested by the prosecution.

Malvern Gazette:

ALASDAIR MACARTHUR, 81, Ledbury and Worcester

Alasdair MacArthur, who lives in Ledbury but has links to Worcester, was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court after he admitted four charges relating to sexual offences against children.

It is understood the judge told the 81 year-old of Orchard Lane that he was being spared jail time only because one of his victims refused to prosecute.

Instead, he was given a three-year community order and fine. He must also sign the sex offenders’ register.

Macarthur admitted making an indecent image of a child, attempting to cause a child between the ages of 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and attempting to pay for sexual service with a child between the ages of 13 and 15.

MacArthur was caught in an online "sting" by police and had been communicating with boys in online chatrooms before the images were discovered.

MacArthur avoided going to prison and instead he was handed a three-year community order, 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and was ordered to attend a sexual offences programme.

In addition, he was fined £300, in addition to court costs of £340 and an £85 victim surcharge.

Malvern Gazette:

MARK KNOWLES, 36, Worcester

Marc Knowles, 36, admitted making hundreds of indecent images of children and having an interest in young boys, but avoided prison time.

Knowles, who had been a quizmaster at pubs around Worcester pleaded guilty to making 56 indecent images of children at category A.

Prosecuting, Simon Phillips said an investigation was launched after 46 illegal images were uploaded to Dropbox, that led the firm to report them to the police.

After the IP address was traced it led them to the Knowles' family computer, at their home in Saunders Street, Worcester.

"The email address was in due course linked to this defendant," Mr Phillips said.

"A search was carried out (in December 2017). When officers arrived, Mr Knowles told the police they did not need to speak to his parents, it was him they needed to speak to.

"To his credit (in interview) he admitted he had uploaded 46 images and there were maybe more."

Mr Phillips said Knowles had also encouraged boys to share images on another site.

The prosecutor said the images found were across three devices including a phone and a computer.

"Stills and movies containing indecent images were found on all three," the prosecutor said.

"He said he had an interest in young boys and had had that interest for about a year.

"He told the police he knew the ages of the boys, and therefore knew it was wrong."

Judge Burbridge said he could draw on Knowles’ good character, his conduct with police, and he had not sought to meet a child.

He handed Knowles an 18 month community order, which includes the condition he must complete the accredited sex offences programme and 40 rehabilitation activity days, and gave him a two month curfew.

He was also given a sexual harm prevention order, and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

Malvern Gazette:

CALLUM HAYCOCK, 21, Kidderminster

Callum Haycock, avoided prison after being found guilty of raping a five year old girl.

Haycock, 21, from Kidderminster, was sentenced to a three-year community order, fined £200 and ordered to pay £2,500 to the victim after being found guilty of a charge of raping a child under 13, as well as being put on the Sexual Offenders’ Register for five years.

He was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £2,500 to the victim after being found guilty of a charge of raping a child under 13, as well as being put on the Sexual Offenders’ Register for five years.

But the girl’s mother is devastated Haycock was not handed a jail term for the incident.

She said: “I ran out of the court and slammed the door behind me, as I walked out of the court I just shouted ‘it’s a joke’. I see no justice for my daughter in this."