A Brighton plumber, who went to Ukraine at the start of the war with Russia, has been sentenced after a jury found him guilty of sexual assault.
Kieran Perkins, 35, a father of four and former soldier, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.
Perkins was an armoured vehicle driver with the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment and served in Afghanistan during his five years in the army.
But three years ago he became the subject of complaints to the police by two women and came close to serving a sentence in prison as a result.
He was at a shared house in the Aldrington area of Hove on Sunday 12 July 2020 when the offence happened.
Sussex Police said: “Two women reported having been sexually assaulted in the early hours of that morning.
“The allegations stemmed from two separate incidents within several hours.
“Kieron Perkins, 37, of Ousedale Close, in Lewes, was arrested at the scene on the same day.
“He was subsequently charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration.
“Perkins pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday 12 August 2021 at Brighton Magistrates’ Court.
“At Brighton Crown Court on Thursday 5 May 2022, he was found not guilty of one count of sexual assault and assault by penetration, with a hung jury for the second sexual assault allegation.
“Following a retrial at Chichester Crown Court, he was found guilty of sexual assault on Friday 8 September 2023.
“On Tuesday 12 December, at Brighton Crown Court, Perkins was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.”
Perkins was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and to attend 25 days of rehabilitation activity.
He was ordered to pay the victim £1,500 as well as a £156 victim surcharge and was told to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Detective Sergeant Sean Booth said: “If you are a victim of a sexual offence, please report it to police. You will be heard, believed and supported, while we will do everything in our power to get you justice.
“Report online or via 101 – always dial 999 in an emergency. For more information on the support available, click here.”
Another freebie,,, why ???
How is rape a suspended sentence
This system where they do a retrial on the hung jury this happened, I see they went to a different court but there no retrial for the rape charge. Its a bit of a stitch up, as I am certain if all charges went to a retrial we would have seen a sentence. Sadly you never know who the jury are. For sure my trial was a tampered jury, its very common, upon reflection I wish it was an out of area trial, as sadly dark forces exist.
The victims could come face to face with this vile man at anytime. We need laws to protect victims. The right to choose if a perpetrator is allowed back to the city they committed the act!
This hands power to the victims, not the perpetrators of these insidious sexual crimes.
It’s down the judge in the crown court to decide on a sentence. Not the jury. These judges have a lot to answer for!
This headline has a weird focus.
How about “Brighton sexual predator charged with crimes but walks away Scot free”?
The focus of the article could be less on his military background and more on the the fact that the justice system let us down. Especially when the police acted so quickly to arrest him.
Yes one was my wife 16 years ago and I got her to finally come forward with it.
Anyone can appeal what they feel is an ‘unduly lenient sentence’ under the Ministry of Justice procedure named just that. Complaining on local forums gets nowhere at all and is a total waste of ire, disbelief and time, very unfortunately, but people can and do put in formal complaints under the UDL scheme and the more people who feel outraged at sentencing such aswith this offence and many others that have been reported recently that put in formal complaints under the official scheme, then the more the MOJ has to take some notice.
Charles Durdle of Uckfield being a case in point – give him a google.
Sorry, meant ULS, not UDL.