Child sex offender receives increased prison sentence following referral to the Court of Appeal

A man who carried out multiple child sex offences has received an increased prison sentence after the Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP referred his case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

Lewis Green, now aged 20, engaged in sexualised conversations with a child aged between 13 and 15 over social media. Green would encourage the victim to send him naked photographs and videos with the promise of financial rewards. When the victim stopped sending photos Green threatened to share them with the victim’s family. In a separate incident, Green offered an unidentified individual money for photos and videos of his children.

Green was also found to be in possession of 1,662 indecent images of children and 278 indecent movie clip images of children.

On 4 March 2022 Green was sentenced to 2 years and 2 months’ imprisonment for child sex offences including the sexual exploitation of a child, possession of indecent images and videos of children and the distribution of indecent images of children at Maidstone Crown Court.

Following the sentencing the Solicitor General referred the original sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme because he believed it was too low.

On 20 May the Court of Appeal found Green’s sentence to be unduly lenient and increased it to 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP said:

I referred this case because the original sentence did not adequately reflect the gravity of Green’s depraved offences. I am satisfied that today’s decision from the Court of Appeal demonstrates that those who sexually exploit children should expect robust punishment.