Ukrainian forces were fighting what he described as the best prepared units of Russian Wagner mercenaries. Now on bbc news, the big cases killing my childrens abuser. A warning this Programme Deals with upsetting themes. A woman has beenjailed for stabbing to death a convicted paedophile. Paedophiles tear lives apart. Its what they do. Her children had been sexually abused. Were you glad he was dead . Yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. She stabbed Michael Pleasted repeatedly. He bled to death. 20 minutes later, she re emerged. You can see the knife. I bring life into the world. It never occurred to me that i would be guilty of taking life out of the world. Did a man need to die . Did children need to be hurt for the truth to come out . I had the knife in my left hand and i remember him trying to grab it. I had taken the law into my own hands, i had done that. In 2014, sarah sands, a single mum, and her young sons moved into their first proper home a maisonette on this estate. Her elder son bradley wasnt much older than his Twin Brothers alfie and reece, so from the start, they were always close. The family had been on a Council Waiting list for years, and sarah hoped their new home would finally give the boys a sense of security as they moved into secondary education. It was special to us, it was mine and my boys� , it was our fresh start. We poured a lot of love into that little place, it was ours, we was happy, you know, the kids were settling great at school. We could have been happy there, i. We could have been happy there. Took everything from me. Sarah sands became friendly with a pensioner in a neighbouring block. Michael pleasted was 77 and lived on his own. I genuinely thought he was just a lovely old man. I would watch him on the estate. Pleased to see everyone, help everyone. Everybody, you know, said hi to him, he was easygoing, always had something nice to say. Yeah, just a nice man. Absolutely no red flags whatsoever. I cooked for him, looked after him, always kept him company when i had the time. Sighs so many regrets. I wish i didnt move here. I wish id never said hello. I suppose, in one way, its like saying you wish you werent kind and you wish youd been mean and you wish youd been ignorant, and you wish youd been, you know. A few of the children had saturdayjobs with him, just helping him out at the back of the shop, working in the corner shop, do the papers in the morning, that kind of thing. They had saturdayjobs with him and he asked if it would be all right if brad could help out and brad was so excited, bless him. So excited. He then invited them back to his flat, where the assaults took place. And it was all part of his grooming, but she was unaware, and she wasjust looking at him as an old man who was lonely in the community. He definitely caught everyone off guard, definitely. Do you think now he was targeting brad . Yep. Shed given food to the man that had sexually assaulted her children, she had kind of welcomed him in to her family. He was, in all intents and purposes, grooming her children. He allowed the children, even at the young age they were, to work in his bric a brac shop at the back of a newsagents in the estate where they lived. 12 year old bradley and the twins, who were 11, told her that pleasted had sexually abused them. Still to this day, there are no words to describe how it eats you up from the inside out. Hed ripped my family apart, thats what hed done. Michael pleasted was arrested and charged with offences against her boys. While he was awaiting trial, he was allowed back on the estate. Sarah sands couldnt believe a judge had agreed to let him return to the neighbourhood. He was given bail by the courts. I cant comment on that decision because i wasnt involved in that decision, but from a personal level, i still dont understand why the courts gave him bail, and back to his home address, which was very close to where sarah and herfamily lived, which would have put them again under more stress and pressure, and more fear that there might be more repercussions. Hed ruined my life and hed taken. Hed tried to take away the most precious thing in my life. Them babies, we all know theyre not going to wake up one day and this didnt happen. Im never going to be able to take it away from them when theyre screaming in the middle of the night. I cant say, oh, it was just a dream. Because it wasnt, he was a walking nightmare. Its horrendous the guilt, the pain, the sheer shame. Its myjob to protect them. I should have known. It. Itjust eats you alive. But why are you feeling shame . Because thats my baby. Id give my life for my baby. In a highly emotional state, she set off from her home and made her way to Michael Pleasteds flat. She was carrying a knife. Dont know what i was doing there. It was a ridiculous. I didnt. It just. I realised id made a huge mistake. I was frightened, absolutely petrified. He had no fear. He was not remorseful in any way, shape or form. At first, he was very much, 0h, your children are lying. And i was just standing there, and everything froze, the whole world froze there wasnt a world, i just froze. Once he realised that i wasnt listening to the drool that was coming out of his mouth, cos we both know my children aint lying. The police arent here anymore, you aint got nobody to justify it to, we both know that youre lying. I didnt say that but im sure the look on my face was literally telling him that, because at the same time, hejust stopped. Jumped out of his chair, went over to the window and then came towards me, and by that time, i had the knife in my left hand and i remember him trying to grab it. And then i remember leaving. Yeah. 20 minutes later, she emerged. You can see the knife. She had stabbed Michael Pleasted eight times. He bled to death. I didnt intend for it to end the way that it did. You didnt intend to kill him . No. Hours later, she handed herself in to the police. I saw a very frightened, vulnerable woman. You could tell that she was scared. She came to the police station, she denied murder and obviously gave an explanation of what had happened and why it had happened from her point of view. They absolutely have the right to demand answers from me. I had taken the law into my own hands, i had done that. Ive always been raised my boys have always been raised to take responsibility for their actions. But i also understood that this is the process this is the process that should have happened to Michael Pleasted. This is the process. When you learned what your mum had done, and that this man was now dead, because she had killed him. . Like, so what . Good. I aint going to deny it. He was released on bail, what would make you think that he is not going to go, i know im going to get caught and do time, let me go and get four or five more kids . It didnt stop any afterthoughts. Wed often wake up crying, going, wheres mum . And then the nightmares. But it was nice knowing that he was dead. If wed have known that he was locked away, im sure that would have been just as satisfying. But obviously, he wasnt. So were you glad he was dead . Yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. If this guys still walking about and i know what hes done to me, and hes still about, the government and so on, one of us. Hed be out doing it again. Obviously, it doesnt. The nightmares and stuff, it. Doesnt really slow them down but it does add more of a sense of security, because you dont have to walk down the street thinking. Hes going to come round that corner. And he literally lived across the road from us. I mean, i could see the mans house, i could open that window over there and id see his house across the road. Lots of tears, certainly, when she was giving evidence and certainly when the verdicts were read out. Now, at the old bailey, a woman has beenjailed for 3. 5 years for stabbing to death an elderly neighbour| who was a convicted paedophile. Sarah sands was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder on the grounds that shed lost control, but some questioned whether her sentence was too lenient, and the Court Of Appeal was asked to make a ruling. The offender took with her to the scene a knife, which was used in the infliction of fatal injuries. When the jury were sure that at the time she intended to cause at least serious grievous bodily harm. She did take some steps to cover her tracks. She had changed her clothing. She appears to have attempted to avoid her fingerprints being left at the scene. The offender, having fatally stabbed the deceased, did nothing to assist him in that she did not call the emergency services. Seven and a half years that is the sentence that will be substituted for the sentence of 42 months. There were times in the beginning of going to prison i was suicidal. Absolutely suicidal. And i think i cried every day for about six months. Every single day, i didnt miss a day. Even in that state, i was still calling them in the morning to say good morning, calling them after school to ask how their day went, calling them in the evening to say good night before they went to bed. We wrote letters, my mum never missed a visit. You go through several gates and empty out your pockets, they pat all your arms and legs, every inch of your body. You couldnt bring anything in even if you wanted to. Open your mouth, move yourl tongue up to make sure youre not hiding something. Having absolutely no say in what happens to them as children you have no say. In holloway, you literally get one hour. So having them sitting there, my little one will be here, trying to play with my hair, the boys will be like, this happened Everyone Wants to talk to their mummy at the same time. As soon as they left, oh, as soon as they left. Did you feel, though, sarah did you feel remorse . Absolutely. And why did you feel remorse . I bring life into the world. It never occurred to me that i would be guilty of taking life out of the world. Single mother, you know, trying to raise her children the best way she could. She hadnt had it easy in life. Im not condoning what she did, because you cant take the law into your own hands. She should have allowed justice to take its place, which was happening. What sarah sands and none of her neighbours knew was that the man she had killed, the man accused of abusing her children, was a convicted paedophile who had changed his identity to try to bury his past. His original name was robin moult, and this is a Newspaper Report of his first case dating back to 1970. He had 2a Convictions for sex offending. He had served jail terms for his crimes which spanned three decades. Not even the local council was aware of this when it housed him in a block overlooking a primary school. Even without knowing pleasteds history, sarah sands had tried to stop him living back on the estate after he was charged with the offences against her sons. I did go through all the authorities. Its the governments fault at the end of the day what happened its entirely their fault. I but i have to take responsibility. Youve got to take responsibility, but youve also got to take their responsibility. If they did theirjob properly, | this wouldnt have happened. This is their fault because, j at the very end of the day, if they did theirjobs, we wouldnt be here talking to you. If he was in prison after 24 convictions, then we wouldnt be sitting here today. Personally, i have dealt with over 150 murders. This case particularly has stuck with me. I know shes now out of prison trying to rebuild her life, thats brilliant. Ive lived around here for years, before you came. That man was living on thel estate for how many years . And no one had a clue. I didnt have a clue. On an estate full of kids, i with a school at the end of the road, for how many years . We were all living amongst it. He used to watch my dogs for me outside the shop. I he had children working for him every saturday. Thought nothing of it look after the dog, its only old mick, nothing of it. Yeah, yeah. Good to see a familiar face. A crimes a crime, people look at it like its a bad thing, but really and truly, you was never a bad person, do you know what i mean . Youre back now, thats what matters. That is what matters, definitely. Thatjudge, if theyd have given him a longer sentence for his first crimes, if they had just done what they were meant to do. We wouldve been good. Their lives would have been so different. Instead, they had a mum in prison for years, you know . Were good. Youre always good. Youre always going to be good. Yeah. They had a mum that loved them and cared for them. I they definitely have that. How has whats happened in the family affected them, affected your relationship with them . Were closer than ever. Closer than ever. Nothing was ever going to stop me being their mum. I dont think im ever not going to baby them. I dont think it matters to me what age theyre going to be punk rock music. You only have one mum. The rest of the world you have to be grown up and go to work and you got responsibilities. You have all that. Your mum is the only one, shes always going to put that wing over you. Our relationships of course had cracks. I had so much to catch up on. They went through so much, you know . There were cracks that we had to work on, but you couldnt break the bond, you couldnt. Paedophilia is a pandemic. And, you know, weve got to get change. Sarah has nowjoined others who are campaigning for tighter restrictions on Sex Offenders who change their names. Here at westminster, meeting the labour mp sarah champion. Hello, im sarah. I know youre sarah as well for me, there is a gaping hole in child protection. What i found most curious but worrying when i started looking into the restrictions and the conditions put on Sex Offenders, its up to them to tell the police theyve changed their name. Yeah. So if they dont, if they change it and theyjust disappear, there is literally no way until they reoffend that the police can track them down. They could go to probation, change their name the next day, you dont know theyre missing. Exactly. They could be anywhere in the world within three weeks. The government says that offenders are legally bound to notify the authorities of any name change. But the campaigners are concerned that some are simply ignoring this, and using their new identities to get through dbs checks, which are needed for certain roles and which reveal criminal convictions. They are systematically changing their names, some in prison, so they are able to create a new identity. But once theyve changed their name, they are able to get a new Driving Licence in that name, a new passport in that name, and that enables them to get a new dbs check, which will be a clean dbs check. And what were finding is these people are then going into schools, into places with young people, into places with vulnerable people, in positions of trust, and they are exploiting that in the most horrific ways. We are an example of. What happens when laws like that arent imposed. They allowed him to change his name, he was within 500 feet of a school, he had children employees. Theyjust let him on the streets. L if you are being abused or have been abused, try and talk. Try and talk. If you dont speak up, whoever the man or woman thats abusing you or has abused you, theyll move onto someone else. The sooner you say it, the sooner you could potentially save more people from being in the same pain that youre feeling. Ifeel like its better to get yourself out of that situation and talk as well, otherwise youre just putting yourself through worse and worse. Youre eating yourself alive. When i went in, i was absolutely very bitter towards the authorities, towards the judge that had given him bail. That was going to eat me alive, it was eating me alive. For me to help build them up and to show them its possible, i had to do it first. The real me, the strong version of me, shes got a lot more light now. Yeah, she breathes a lot better. Hello then. Week two of january 2023 has been another wet one and in fact we are starting to see the signs of that out to the west. Theres been some localised flooding. This was carmarthenshire thursday afternoon and through North West England and parts of wales, some areas have already exceeded their Monthly AverageRainfall Totals and were not even halfway through the month yet. Now, thursdays low pressure continues to pull away. This little ridge of High Pressure builds and quietens things down for friday until the end of the day more wet weather waiting in the wings. So well start off with a northerly wind, driving in some showers on exposed coasts here. A narrow band of showery rain into northern ireland, south west scotland, North West England. But elsewhere we will still see blustery winds, but some sunny spells coming through and pleasant enough, mostly dry, with temperatures peaking between 6 11 celsius. But as we move out of friday, into the early hours of saturday morning, well start to see more wet weather. And unfortunately, the heaviest of the rain is likely to push across those areas that have already exceeded the monthly Rainfall Totals, so that mightjust exacerbate any potential flooding. So that frontal system is going to move away and then a trail of showers tucks in behind. So its a wet start for england, wales, for northern ireland, southern scotland. The rain pushes off to the north sea, a trail of Showers Packs in along north and west facing coasts, but there will be some sunny spells into the afternoon. Still mild in the south east, with 12 celsius, but somewhat cooler conditions starting to kick in now across the far north. And that is going to be the tone into the third week of january. So, from sunday onwards, noticeably colder. We will start to see some frost and we havent seen those so far this year. And, yes, any precipitation may well turn wintry because were going to see that northerly flow. And with any little weather fronts moving into that cold air, some of those showers could turn wintry even at lower levels, so you need to keep abreast of the forecast over the next few days. On sunday, well see some showers, rain, sleet and snow along north and west facing coasts. A noticeably colder afternoon just a couple of degrees above freezing in scotland, highs of 7 celsius further south. Cooler with further wintry showers to come, monday into tuesday. Take care. This is bbc news. Im monika plaha. Our top stories lisa marie presley, the musician and only daughter of elvis presley, dies aged 5a after suffering cardiac arrest. President biden faces tough questions from reporters after a second set of Classified Records are found, this time in his garage. Classified material next to your corvette what were you thinking . 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