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Home Canterbury News Article
Depraved paedophile Luke Sadowski is back behind bars for trying to snatch two young girls – 11 years after receiving an “appalling” jail term for similar crimes.
Sadowski’s sadistic plans to buy a child on the internet to “lose his virginity to” were uncovered in 2003, when police also found leg shackles, handcuffs, parcel tape and newspaper reports of child murders in his student accommodation in Canterbury.
He had turned up at a London hotel to meet a nine-year-old eastern European girl armed with a fake gun, a teddy bear and a condom, unaware it was an FBI sting.
The pervert, who was a student at Canterbury Christ Church at the time, went on to serve just eight months of a three-year sentence and even dodged the sex offenders’ register.
A decade after his release, the man who now goes by the name George Richards, has been jailed for life after trying to abduct two young girls and making a child torture chamber in his flat in Hertfordshire.
His latest offences happened in September last year, when Sadowski attempted to grab a 10-year-old on a footbridge.
He fled after being confronted by an off-duty policeman.
A few days later, he grabbed a five-year-old in a cul-de-sac. When officers found him nearby he waved an imitation gun at them.
In chilling echoes of his past crimes, they found a kitchen knife, tape and lengths of string in his pockets.
When they raided his home in Ware, Hertfordshire, they found the windows had been blacked out and doors fitted with high bolts.
Richards pleaded guilty to two counts of child abduction, using an imitation firearm and possessing a knife.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of just seven years when he appeared at St Albans Crown Court.
Judge John Plumstead told him: “The level of danger you represent to the public is enormous.
"I am perfectly sure you were intent on abducting and sexually assaulting, or worse, helpless children, but you lost your nerve.”
Adrian Foster, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “These were despicable crimes against defenceless young girls which could have had far worse consequences. It is impossible to imagine a more vulnerable victim.
“George Richards has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of seven years and can no longer prey upon children.”
A statement from the Ware victims’ families said: “The man who did this is dangerous and while knowing he is now in prison may help us rebuild our lives, we have also been sentenced to living with these awful memories forever.”
