By Frances Gibb
A “SEX tourist” who carried out attack on two very young girls in Cambodia was jailed for eight years yesterday.
Mark Towners, 52, a father of two, pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to 14 counts of abuse including sex with a girl under 13 after his wife told police of pictures she had found on his computer.
Towner, who was obsessed with pornography, went to Cambodia in May last year on business, but hired two seven-year-old girls for sex.
The court heard that Towners, a safety officer from Cranbook, Kent took pictures of himself carrying out the lewd acts with the children and e-mailed them back to England. Towners was the latest prosecution under in the Sex Offenders Act 1997 using legislation that allows police in England and Wales to prosecute offenders for sex crimes carried out abroad.
Passing sentence Judge Warwick McKinnon said Towners was a danger to children and passed a longer sentence so that he could receive rehabilitation.
He said: “These are acts of sexual abuse – grave, indeed they are quite horrendous and horrific offences. Children as young as seven and older than 10 are involved in degradation and they were performed for your own perverted gratification.
“You are a danger to young children and the court must send out a message of determination against people who perform acts on ones so young.”
Towner’s wofe ran crying from court when she heard the nature of the crimes he had carried out on the children. She had contacted police when she found two images on his computer that had been taken off the Internet.
Speaking after the case DC Dave Canning said Towners had more that 600 images of children on his computer. “In almost 20 years of police service, these are probably the most appalling photographs that I have seen and they involve very young children,” he said.
“This case highlights particularly good use of new legislation by allowing the full weight of the law in this country to be brought to bear on Mr. Towners. The new legislation has allowed us to charge for several serious offences in addition to possession of indecent photos.”
Towners was charged with having sex with a child under the age of 13, three counts of indecent assault and 10 of possessing gross images of a child.
The court heard that Towners had an obsession with pornography. In 1987 he had been convicted of importing child pornography into the country. Since he was arrested last year his wife has left him and he has lost his job, the court heard.
Towners showed me emotion as he was sentenced to eight years for having sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13, four years for each count of indecent assault on a child and 18 months for the 10 counts of making indecent photographs of a child, all to run concurrently.
Speaking outside the court Towner’s wife, who did not want to be named, said she was sickened by what her husband had done. “I discovered the pictures on the computer and was utterly stunned,” she said. “They were disgusting. I want nothing more to do with him and will be getting a divorce.