Barnardos CEO describes Tom Humphries sentence as 'incredibly lenient'

The CEO of Barnardos has said the sentence handed down to Tom Humphries was "incredibly lenient.

The CEO of children's charity Barnardos Fergus Finlay has said the sentence handed down to Tom Humphries was "incredibly lenient".

However, Mr Finlay stressed he was not a lawyer and"'always very reluctant to second-guess a judge".

"I can't see any basis on which this sentence could be described as anything other than incredibly lenient. This was a piece of calculated, purposeful, deliberate criminality over a long period of time that destroyed the life of a young person," he told RTÉ Radio One.

Tom Humphries

Speaking on Today with Sean O'Rourke, Mr Finlay said the new Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, which could not be used on circumstances that predated it, outlined an offence in line with the circumstances of Mr Humphries case.

"Section 8 of that act says 'a person who by means of information and communication technology communicates with another person, including a child, for the purposes of facilitating the sexual exploitation of that child shall be guilty of an offence and liable for a conviction for a term not exceeding 14 years'," he said.

Fergus Finlay

"It does indicate a sense in which sentences are a bit out of touch with the law as it currently stands. It as at least arguable [...] that if a person were tried today the judge would be looking at a maximum sentence of 14 years.

"I suspect the sentence, therefore, would be an awful lot higher than the sentence that was handed out [to Tom Humphries]," he said.

He said a paedophile has no redeeming features due to the levels of long, careful preparation involved.

"That crime has no redeeming features whatsoever and I don't believe it is possible to separate in that particular instance the crime from the person," he said.

"I find it just inconceivable that anyone can come on the radio and talk about somebody 'who is much more than a paedophile'. There's no such thing. A paedophile is someone who calculates, who plans, who conspires, who spends as much time as is necessary to get their way."

The CEO of CARI, Mary Flaherty, said comments by the judge that Mr Humphries' fall from grace was being taken into account are concerning..

"We believe it is sending out a seriously inappropriate message that if you're in a higher status in society you can continue your crime knowing that ultimately if you come to justice your sentences could be lighter simply because of your status.

"I hope there would be some internal examination of this," she said.