Elaine Loughlin: Perpetrators of sexual violence do not deserve cloak of respectability

Why should the capacity to gather a crowd of so-called upstanding members of the community matter in the case of someone who is convicted of a sexual offence?

Character references for sex criminals can leave victims distraught, campaigners say. File Picture

Vincent Williams is a dedicated, honest, and trustworthy man. That’s according to the 23 people who presented character references to court after the 41-year-old of Mountain Park, Tallaght, Dublin was convicted of five counts of sexual assault of children.

His victims might disagree with that description.