Paedophile Brent Foster has sentence doubled for grooming autistic boy

Brent Foster

Brent Jason Foster, 46, of Ivor Street, Rochdale, a paedophile who groomed an autistic teenage boy before swapping explicit pictures with him over Facebook, has had his jail term doubled by judges.

Foster, a bus driver who transported children to a specialist school in Rochdale, has had his sentenced increased to four years by judges sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court after they said that the original term was “unduly lenient” for his serious crimes.

Foster was originally jailed for two years at Manchester Crown Court in June after admitting six counts of sexual activity with a child and three of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC argued that the term handed to Foster was far too short.

Increasing the sentence, Lord Justice Fulford said that two years may have been an appropriate sentence for a single incident but it was “unduly lenient” in light of the repeated offending against the teenager.

Before increasing Foster's sentence, the court heard that he had groomed the boy by giving him sweets and showering him with gifts before engaging in a series of Facebook chats over the period of a year.

He then eventually managed to persuade the youngster to send him an intimate picture of himself.

The court also heard how he had targeted the boy because he was vulnerable and Foster believed he was more likely to agree to his demands.

Foster’s abuse of the teenager came to light when the boy confided in his mother and another adult about the online message.

A probation report revealed that Foster had showed no remorse for his actions, that he posed a high risk to children and was likely to have carried on targeting the boy if he hadn’t been reported.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/87538/brent-foster-sentenced-for-sexually-assaulting-a-teenage-boy