A man would not be walking the streets now, says assault victims' father (From Worcester News)

Father criticises judge who did not jail Amanda Wheeler

4:51pm Friday 1st February 2013 in News By Elizabeth Sweetman, @lizsweetmanWN #worcsnews

GOBSMACKED: The father of two boys sexually assaulted by Amanda Wheeler has criticised her sentence

THE father of two boys who were sexually assaulted by a housewife has criticised a judge for not jailing her.

As reported in your Worcester, Amanda Wheeler was spared an immediate jail sentence after a judge heard her victims had fully recovered.

Wheeler was convicted of one count of sexual assault and four counts of sexual activity with a child following a trial at Worcester Crown Court in October. She had denied the charges.

The court heard she molested three boys aged 12, 13 and 14 after drinking vodka, wine and beer at a 50th birthday party in Worcester in November 2011.

This week Judge Patrick Thomas QC sitting at Birmingham Crown Court gave the 31-year-old mother, previously of Goodrest Walk, Rainbow Hill, Worcester, a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5live on Thursday, the man, who remained anonymous to protect the identity of his sons, said he was “absolutely gobsmacked” by the sentence.

He said: “It’s just horrendous, I mean, that this has come about.

“This happened on a Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. We found out on the Friday morning.”

He said the assaults only came to light after a woman overheard the children talking and reported her concerns to their school.

“I think the kids were afraid to say something, you know, frightened to talk out,” he said.

“Too scared to come forward and tell us you know, they just thought it would go away and it didn’t.”

Wheeler’s crimes carried a maximum jail sentence of 14 years so the parents thought she would get at least six or seven years.

“When we found out that she had a much shorter, suspended sentence, I was absolutely gobsmacked,” he said.

“I sat through the whole 13-days of the trial at crown court and I went to crown court to hear the sentencing.

“The judge read every indictment charge and what the sentence would be for each one and it totted to four-and-a-half years.

“I just can’t believe how he can talk all the way through, saying how serious the offences are, and she basically lied and stupidly put (the victiims) through the whole trial only to be found guilty at the end.”

During his sentencing, the judge told Wheeler he regarded the offences as a one-off and did not consider her to be dangerous.

He said each of the victims had made it “pretty plain” that they were over whatever trauma was involved in the offending.

But the man said: “These kids have suffered, not my two lads but the one lad, two weeks before the trial started took a knife to his mum and went and sat on the train track.

“Saying the kids have got over it I don’t know, I don’t think they have fully, it’s still in the back of their minds what happened.

“If a man was in that dock yesterday, he would not be walking the streets now.

“It may well have been a one-off, but a one-off can cost.”