A QUIZMASTER has still not been sentenced for making indecent images of children nearly three years after he was arrested as a judge hit out at the delay.

Former Worcester quizmaster Marc Knowles did not appear at a hearing at Worcester Crown Court yesterday and his barrister still has not obtained the psychiatric report designed to assist the court with sentencing. The 36-year-old of Saunders Street, Worcester, has not had the charges formally put after a series of delays in the case but has made admissions in interview. The case was adjourned in January so a psychiatrist could be instructed to assess whether the defendant was fit to plead. He is accused of making 56 indecent images of children at category A (the most serious category) between February 18 and December 20, 2017.

Knowles is further charged with making 215 indecent images at category B between the same dates and 572 indecent photographs of a child at category C between November 1 and December 20, 2017.

Recorder David Mason QC said of the case: “I know there’s been a hiccup but it’s dragging on a bit now. We need to get on with it. He was arrested in December 2017. It’s getting a little bit old to put it mildly.”

Earlier in the hearing Knowles’ barrister Elizabeth Power had asked that her client not be arraigned until he had been assessed by a psychiatrist. She said he was scheduled to see a doctor this week. “Unfortunately that’s not happened – I don’t think the doctor got back to the solicitors,” she said.

However, she said a doctor would be able to see her client in mid September and the issue would no longer involve his fitness to plead. The case was adjourned until Wednesday, October 28 for pleas and sentence. In the meantime the judge ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared. A probation officer said the defendant could be interviewed before the production of the psychiatric report and, if required, a follow-up interview could be conducted once an officer had seen the report by the doctor.