A mother killed the pedophile who abused three of her children: ‘I did what anyone would do’

A British woman stabbed her neighbor to death eight times after learning he was abusing three of her children. Sarah Sands, 38, a mother of five, killed 77-year-old Michael Pleasted in her London flat, weeks after he discovered she had abused three of her young children.

The case occurred in 2014. The woman was sentenced in 2015 to seven years in prison and now, now free, she campaigns to prevent harassers from getting legal tricks to avoid jail time.

On the day the rapist died, Sarah Sands drank two bottles of wine and went to the home of 77-year-old Michael Pleasted in a nearby block of flats in east London and she stabbed him eight times in 2014.

Pleasted had abused three of her children and other young boys from the urbanization and had already been convicted of three decades of child abuse crimes. At that moment, the rapist is on probation, under an assumed identity.

It was later revealed that she had changed her name to Robin Moult to hide her sick past.. This ploy was able to help get a new driver’s license and passport in that new name, and even a new criminal record check to allow children access.

Sarah’s brave children have turned 18 and have given up their right to anonymity to support their mother, who was released from prison and is now campaigns for tougher rules allowing sex offenders to change their names.

One of his sons, Bradley, admitted that he initially thought “hats off” to his mother when he discovered she had stabbed him to death. His twin brothers said they felt “more secure” after his death. Reece, then 11, said it was “nice to know he was dead.”

Mrs Sands said she now feels remorse for killing him. She said: “I bring life to the world. It never occurred to me that I would be guilty of taking someone’s life.”

But he told the BBC: “For pedophiles, if you touch children, there must be consequences.” And hiding behind name changes… you have to get out of it. You have to take away his right to change his name.”

Mrs Sands was convicted of manslaughter but acquitted as she was deemed to have lost control. She was jailed for seven and a half years and would later say, “I did what any mother would do.”

Regarded by the family as a friendly and helpful neighbor on their east London estate, Pleasted was revealed to have changed his name to Robin Moult to hide a long history of crime against children. Mrs. Sands even cooked and cared for him, not knowing he was abusing her children.

Her children were not publicly known to have been Pleasted victims when she was imprisoned due to her right to anonymity. She said she initially intended to threaten Pleasted, who was on bail awaiting trial, to plead guilty so her children would not have to testify in court.

Mrs Sands’ sons, Bradley, Alfie and Reece, gave up their legal right to lifelong anonymity to speak out. All admitted that they felt safer after their mother killed Pleasted.

Bradley said, “I thought about taking my hat off… I won’t deny it,” when he found out what his mother had done. One of her twins, Reece, said it was ‘nice to know he was dead’ but ‘nothing prevented further thoughts, you know, we often woke up crying [diciendo] ‘Where’s mum?”.

Alfie added: ‘It made us feel safer. It didn’t stop the nightmares. But it gave us a sense of security because we didn’t have to walk down the street thinking it was coming around the corner.’

Ms Sands was convicted of manslaughter by loss of control following a trial at the Old Bailey in 2015, and was eventually jailed for seven-and-a-half years after the Court of Appeal increased her sentence.

She told the court she wanted to scare him but attacked him when the assailant claimed her children were making it all up.

She said: “I realized that he had made a big mistake. He in no way regrets it. He told me “your kids are lying”. The whole world froze. I had the knife in my left hand and I remember her reaching for it.” She insists that she never intended to hang the pedophile.

But hours after the attack, he gave himself up to the police, with a knife and bloodstained clothes. While her single mother was behind bars, Sarah’s five children lived with their grandmother.