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From The Times

September 14, 2007

The elegant businesswoman and her middle-class paedophile ring

Archibald Wood, Monica McCanch and Steven Horton

Sean O'Neill

Monica McCanch presented a well-dressed face of confident respectability to the world. She worked for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company, in Kent before taking redundancy last year for a new life in Jamaica, where she planned to invest in eco-tourism.

She told friends that she was making a fresh start after the break-up of her 29-year marriage to Norman McCanch, a well-regarded naturalist. But she was also trying to leave behind the disturbing secret of her involvement in a paedophile ring that subjected a number of children to repeated abuse and posted videos of their torment on the internet.

Yesterday the past caught up with McCanch, 55, when she pleaded guilty to four offences of sexual activity with a child and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. She stood, head bowed, at Maidstone Crown Court, as Judge Jeremy Carey told her that her crimes were grave and jailed her for six years.

Gone were the smart clothes, hair dye and make-up. McCanch was silver-grey and, with her gold-rimmed glasses, seemed almost grandmotherly in appearance. McCanch had returned voluntarily to Britain to admit her part in the offences. A professed Christian, her Bible has been her constant companion during ten months in custody on remand. When she was arrested at Heathrow last November, five suicide letters were found in her luggage. In a letter to the court she wrote: “I will carry this to my grave.”

Also in the dock were Archibald Wood, her former lover, and Steven Horton, the man who had provided two children, aged 12 and 13, for the trio to subject to what police say was “horrific abuse” over a six-hour period one afternoon in June 2005.

Wood, 60, is an Oxford law graduate who spent 19 years in the Army, serving in the Falklands and Northern Ireland, before working for the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall.

He had had a long sexual relationship with McCanch, unknown to her husband, which involved group-sex parties and pornography.

At the time of his arrest last year, he was chairman of the board of governors at Tavistock Community College in Devon — a post that required him to have child protection training — and a governor of a primary school. He admitted nine offences, including arranging child sex abuse and distributing indecent images of children, and asked for seventeen others to be taken into consideration. He was jailed for six years.

Horton, 44, from Sittingbourne, Kent, is a father who worked as a warehouse supervisor and was a regular on his local golf course and an enthusiastic five-a-side footballer. He admitted 28 offences ranging from child rape, sexual assault and arranging the commission of child sex offences to distributing indecent images. The judge imposed an indeterminate sentence on him and said he would serve 5½years before being considered for parole.

Afterwards Detective Superintendent David Shipley, of the Kent Police public protection crime unit, said: “The public perception of the paedophile is the dirty old man in a mac with big round glasses and living at home with his mother. These offenders were seemingly respectable, professional people. You wouldn’t look at them twice if you walked past them in the street.”

Horton was the starting point for Operation Starlight, which is still unearthing new offenders and is seeing its reach spread around the world. Six children living in Britain have been rescued from abusive situations, but images of their ordeals have been distributed through paedophile chat rooms and newsgroups, prompting criminal investigations as far afield as Slovenia and Venezuela.

The Kent police investigation followed an electronic evidence trail from Horton’s computer to that of Vincent Jordan, from Worsley, Manchester. Jordan, 47, lived an outwardly respectable life as a father of two small daughters with a job as an IT consultant. But late at night, when his wife and children were asleep, Jordan logged on to a chatroom called Taboo Incest and became the puppetmaster of a network of paedophiles who abused children in accordance with his detailed instructions.

Online, he posed as a woman who was prepared to offer her own children for sex if his chat-room contacts could prove through deeds and pictures that they were genuine abusers. To please Jordan — who will be sentenced next month after admitting 20 offences — paedophiles across Britain sent pictures and videos of their sadistic assaults which he compiled in a private library.

Horton became one of the puppets, regularly arranging the sexual abuse of three children at Jordan’s behest. His activity was eventually discovered when his partner stumbled upon e-mails between him and Jordan arranging a liaison to abuse children and the investigation began.

Fantasy to reality

The internet is acting as a spur for people with a sexual interest in children to become actual abusers, police officers in Operation Starlight said last night.

Archibald Wood, one of those jailed at Maidstone Crown Court, moved rapidly from viewing child abuse images to indulging in fantasies in paedophile chatrooms and then became actively involved in abusing children.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Fotheringham, of Kent Police, said: “There must be a correlation between viewing images and moving on to abuse. I have no doubt that the research in ten years’ time will prove that.”

Prosecutors want conditions imposed on Wood banning him from accessing the internet after his release from jail. Mr Fotheringham said that the internet could not be blamed for creating paedophile crime, but it seemed to lead to an escalation in offending and an acceleration of the rate at which some people moved from having a deviant interest to becoming abusers.

The sentences are crazy. Rather these people should be locked up and the key thrown away for good, they should NEVER be allowed out into public life again.

yummymummy, London, UK

This is preposterous! This is not justice! The abused children are scarred for life, their little lives have been sullied and it will certainly take them longer than 6 years to get over the traumatic experiences, if ever. Whilst these unworthy of living creatures, wipe the board clean in 6 years! I am a parent and I would not hesitate to look for other reprisals, if this is what the British justice offers as punishment!

Violeta Meister, London,

The degradation and abuse of small children must be the vilest of crimes.
Animals protect their young yet human beings born with the faculties of intelligence choose to violate their own kind, even the innocent infant.
Look into the eyes of a small child......it is our duty to protect them from these people who perpetrate this sordid physical, mental and spiritual betrayal of what it is to be human.

L.R. Hen, London,

six years is not eneough, is chemical castration imposed?
isnt there an island where we could leave these people stranded away from children and society as a whole?

Rob mchardy, paris,

2 of these 3 only gets 6 yrs (only 3 yrs in reality) for â€œhorrific sexual abuseâ€ of 2 children, aged 12 & 13, by the trio, including gang rape. What sort of criminal justice system have we got in this country, where life imprisonment means serving, on average, 10 years & every other sentence means the convicted offender who receives a prison sentence will only serve half his sentence, even less if he pleads guilty when he will get another third off. Life means life. How is it right that judges can get away with handing out the same sentence for an offender who commits 1 crime as the offender who commits tens of crimes but has them all heard at the same time. Concurrent sentences should be scrapped & offenders receive a separate sentence for each crime he commits & the sentences served consecutively. Therefore the offender who gets 2 yrs for a theft should serve 10 yrs for 5 thefts. No time off because government passes laws that only half need be served plus time off for good behaviour

Ida Letugo, London, uk

Just another example of how badly justice is being served to the children in the UK.

Darnthesafetynet, London , W11 1NR

Not a very great poster girl for the efficacy of the Christian faith, is she? The televangelists might have to work overtime to explain this one.

Boswell, North Bay,

Commendations to the armed policemen - three shots fired, at least two hit their mark. If you brandish a firearm - expect this reaction as a matter of course. Get shot of guns on the street.

Pete Roberts, Milton Keynes, UK

Has anybody considered that if these criminals have wives, partners and particularly children, that printing their addresses in the media is compounding the utter devastation they must be experiencing. Do they really want the press invading their homes, surely they are suffering enough! What's happened to The Child Protection Act? Punish the paedophiles not their innocent families!!

Jane, Manchester,

I have to agree completely that six years is a disgusting miscarriage of justice when you compare that to the lifetime of psychological pain that these children will be going through. Six years in prison not only serves as little disincentive, it shows a complete disregard by the judicial system for the victims. It is a terrible message to send to society that a violation of children's innocence, sense of safety and physical violation do not even warrant sentences of double digits! This is not just a problem in the UK, unfortunately, but all over the world.

Tara, New York, USA

Why can't we just kill them? What good is it keeping people like that alive?

Kill them and be done with it.

Greg, London, UK

The children they raped were effectively given a life sentence. They will carry the burden of what was done to them until the day they die. Their lives have been blighted.
Their fear, agony and humiliation was filmed and will always be available on the internet for the pleasure of perverts.
The creatures who commited these atrocities - I cannot call them 'crimes' - will express remorse, display insight into their 'offending behaviour' ,empathise with their victims and parade their new religious faith to the parole board.
In a few years they will walk away laughing and maybe move to a street near you.
Gordon Brown couldn't care less about British children, neither do any of the other whore politicians and judges. If they did paedophiles would go to the gallows or to remote prisons to serve natural life sentences.

SM, London,

Elegant?? Are you people blind???

Oonagh, Hong Kong,

Six years, but in reality probably not more than 3 years counting time already in custody, and what do those 3 years hold for these people? Therapy? Awareness of their crimes and the lifetime effects of their crimes on their victims? No - they probably spend time away from the other prisoners because they would be victimised themselves - surely that would teach them about bullies and victims if nothing else will!!!

These people are too sophisticated, too clever in their own way to be ever safe - this is a sickness that can't be cured, and the sadness is that once they are let out of prison there will be more child sex abuse cases, not less.

MichÃ¨le John, Saumur, France

At least 'Tim from Hong Kong' was pretty much on the right track.

It could almost be quite amusing, were the crimes not so heinous, that a so-called Christian, as the convicted now purports to be, can suddenly find solace in the bible post-arrest and conviction, but seemingly ignored any tenets of such a belief during their criminal activity.

Not meant as a pun, but Vlad the Impaler had a point that these (so-called) humans deserve.

And lest our friends from overseas are dumb enough to think this just happens elsewere, remember the recent LA RC church 600 million dollar compensation case. Also, that human trafficking of women and children, primarily for sexual use continues, relatively unhindered and unattended by international governments, from Asia, Europe, Middle East, South America, Middle America and the Far East, et al ad infinitum.

Wake up it's not a christian thing, it's an ugly sick perverted thing that's happening on everyones doorstep! Deal with it!

Nick, Lymington, UK

Jamie Brown of Maidstone says "I think, this being a democracy we should let the people vote on what punishment people like this should get". Well, that idea, in the noble tradition of early European democracy, has long since died out, and is even dying out in Switzerland, one of the last bastions of genuine democracy.
People no longer have power, power is held by socialists who wield their power like Stalinists in pink, fuzzy costumes. We either allow this power to subsume us, step out of political/public participation completely, or die fighting it. We should remember that Stalin (him and his regime) killed more people than any other individual in history.

Marco, uk, uk

SIX years! Is that all. She'll be out in 3. Crimes such as this should attract a compulsory penalty of at least 15 years with no remission. Then people just might start to think twice.

Donna Walker, Effingham, Surrey

Six years ? even that will not actually be served, probably not much more than the proposed two years for a driver who may need to use his phone for a genuine and urgent reason. Good perspective eh.

Frank H., London, UK.

This county's a walk over your right SK LIN. The Judiciary are so out of step with the person on the street.

Warren, Southport, Merseyside

What kind of country is England ? It is a country where child abuse is a criminal offence and offenders are caught & punished. Hopefully this will eventually be true for the whole world. If you believe it's not occurring in your country, you're sadly disillusioned.

R Bowden, London,

"WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY IS THE UNITED KINGDOM?"

SK LIN, Hongkong,

Going by reports of these crimes also in Hong Kong, and the child sex trade in places like Cambodia, Viet Nam and Thailand, I would think any outsider should be very considered in how they judge the UK.

This is a very old crime that has been rife in communities for hundreds of years, but previously either blindly accepted or just covered up. Although I think the internet may have contributed to a rise in this crime, maybe it has also helped to expose the crime and bring it to the worlds attention.

More must be done.

Joss, Britain,

20 years apiece would have been more appropriate. They must have breathed a sigh of relief at getting only 5 or 6 years for what they did. Total joke.

Jon, London, UK

I am shocked by these light sentences for such horrific offences.People who view the pictures receive almost as long in jail,yet these people actually instigated and took part in the acts.

Rob, Hitchin,

Ida Letugo, London, uk

The phrase "throw the key away" springs to mind. If this is too expensive, how about some "Extraordinary Rendition", where these creatures and their ilk can be dropped off onto a Pacific island with a long history of nuclear testing.

E J Murray, Kerry, Ireland

The crimes are heinous of course. However it seems to me that at least the woman eventually listened to her conscience however belatedly and that must have taken some courage. I also wonder about the wisdom of naming such a chat room in the article, and is it not possible to close these places down?
Outrage and condemnation are easy, but action that might cost some money in terms of profits would be a great deal more useful.
I hope the woman finds what she needs from the Bible and I also pray for the victims.

Sandra , London, UK

it annoys me so much to hear of twisted, power crazed people who, once their crimes have been discovered they start to carry around a bible as if this will condone their behaviour. Their sentences are far too lenient in my view as their victims and the victims families have been given a life sentence - so should they. bible or no bible!

katrina, paris, france,

I just do not understand why these crimes against children are given such soft sentences? Whats going on in our legal system that we do not place more value on our children? These are not burglars or car thieves; these are people that are abusing our kids for pleasure. I only hope that some of their fellow inmates with children decide to dish out the punishment they deserve.

Mitch, London, UK

In my country they would get life imprisonment for sure..

Siti, New Delhi,

6 years?!!! What kind of a sentence is that???!!! In comparison to the lifetime of suffering and mental trauma they have subjected the children to, all they recieve is a measly 6 years?!!!!! They'll come out and just do it again!!! This country needs to give out more stricter sentences; for exmple 20 years or so!!! This is the justice our so called legal justice system dispenses!! :@

P Kondhia, London,

It is highly irresponsible to give out the name of the chatroom in this article.All children deserve our protection from people like these.The Internet must obliterate these sites and block the users.More funding should be given to specialist police departments to track these people.

sue ernstsons, birmingham, uk

Horton was given an indeterminate sentence which means he has no stated release date. He will be considered for parole in 5 and half years, but the parole board could refuse his release. He could therefore spend many more years in prison than 5 and a half years.

Rick, London,

Does the rape victim get time off for good behaviour as well? The victim's trauma is likely to last much longer than the sentence handed out to the perprator, let alone the sentence actually served. These people are all middle-aged and upward. A 10 or 20 year stint with no hope of parole would protect a lot more children than the ludicrous sentence handed down.

And by the way, how do you police a ban on someone accessing the internet? Even the conditions on release are unrealistically laughable!

KR, Stockport,

It makes me sick when you hear of this type of person who gets and that basicly is what happens with the crime of sexual and pysical Abuse aginst Children. The Child has a life sentance of the memory of what happend to them while thease people 5 and 6 years in prison for what they did the only gratitude I get is knowing that there life in prison is going to be hell from other inmates who look at them as the lowest form of life. Other's serving there time for crimes they commited have got longer for less so please where is there any justifcation in our system. In my eyes men who are sentanced should be castrated and woman sterilized end of story. Oh I'm forgetting human rights, did they think of the rights of the child.
James. Buckinghamshire UK

James , High Wycombe, Bucks

The sentence is totally inadequate. It needs to be much much more stronger.

Such crimes in Eng are really really horrific...

Rishi Das, Hyderabad, India

Six years for the crime and a life of torment for the victims, how unjust. The sentence should have been life for these criminals.

javed khan, london, uk

6 years does seem a short sentence. But you cannot condemn it as unjust or claim 'England is doomed' without knowing the details of the the crimes committed, as those who tried and convicted these people did. Hysterical cries for blanket 'life without parole' sentences for child abusers are themselves deeply immoral.

Alex T, London,

No justice in the UK then?

Mike , London, UK

SIX YEARS for these appalling crimes against children. What is wrong with our values? A minimum of twenty years would be more appropriate.

Judith, Dorset,

SIX YEARS!!! Only six years!! This is nothing short of disgraceful and a sad statement of how liberal attitudes and lack of any sense of morality by the judiciary has left victims ridiculed and criminals pampered. This country has lost it's senses under this immoral Labour government.

viv, London, england

These sentences are unbelievably light. Yet again a judge who has the power to impose harsher sentencing does not do so. I am becoming increasingly suspicious of some of these judges - i understand a number were caught in Operation Ore last year.

There should be an authomatic 10-year sentence for sex with a minor, if you are significantly older, with the sentence increasing as the child gets younger to life with no hope of parole for anyone who rapes a very young child/baby.

There must also be a control of the internet. I have long found it ridiculous that things which are illegal in a country are easily accessible on the net. The DCI says in 10-years time it will be proven that the net is acting as a spur for the abuse of children. This is obvious NOW. A law should be passed that allows police to select websites for closure for breaking the law...and all ISPs should be obliged to prevent access to, with an appeals process for legitmate website.

Vaseem, London, UK

I don't know what happens to paedophiles in prison in the UK but, in the US, their life expectancy isn't very long. Even some of the ones who have been put in solitary confinement for their own protection don't make it.

Joye, Jacksonville, USA

problem today, is jails are so overfilled, that sentences for horrific crimes are shorter, partly due to eurpean legislation, which has taken human rights totally the wrong way, seems we have a society that doesnt want to hurt the guys that do wrong, saying they come from a bad background, in this case they all came from good backgrounds as far as i can see, so shouldve had longer sentences. I think we have plenty of deserted islands off of scotlands coasts which would make a nice outside jail, with No guards, give them the materials to build there own enclave and just have a docks guarded area for ones coming in and out of jail.

jon rose, torrington, uk

So many people seem to think that 6 years means 6 years in jail.
DON'T PEOPLE KNOW THAT ONLY HALF OF A SENTENCE OF THIS LENGTH IS USUALLY SERVED?
I sympathise with those from overseas who are horrified at the leniency of the 'justice' system. A youth spending a year or two in detention for attacking and killing a law abiding member of the public is the norm here. We're all doomed!!!!!!!

Tracey Murray, Manchester, England

Bit of luck he wasnt caught speeding in 2 or 3 years time, at this rate he would be jailed for 12 years for doing 33mph!

I think, this being a democracy we should let the people vote on what punishment people like this should get, i'm fairly sure it wont be 6 years.

Jamie Brown, Maidstone, England

As a Christian myself it is difficult to say much other than not everyone who professes faith is necesserily in relatiionship with God. I hope that this woman turned her life to God after these awful events and is seeking to live the best life she can now. it doesnt take the pain away for the victims and this is the difficult thing to come to terms with. it grieves me greatly whenever i hear of any such crimes against children and im ever more disappointed when so called Christians are the perpetrators. it is important for any of us to understand that religion is just rules and regulations - but true christianity is a relationship with Jesus and a life based on His teaching and the word of God the Bilble. a message to all Christians out there is just look how important it is to live the right life not one of hypocrisy. to all who look to the church for an answer i'd say sorry - and now, will the real church please stand up! the world needs better from us if we are to be taken seriously

paul , bradford, uk

Forget moral and social indignation, it does not help here. Assume this happens not just here but in every society. How to stop it? You cannot. But you can make the odds a little fairer. 6 years in jail for a "grave" crime? Not a strong enough disincentive. Let's try 20 years automatic baseline with no parole. Then upwards from there. These are intelligent rational minds at work and a clear catastrophic consequence of capture would be the best way to remove some of these people from the field. I assume the non-paedophile community in every society would not be concerned about the effect of such sentencing on paedophiles?

Tim, Hong Kong,

Those sentences are so mild compared to the heinous and depraved offenses committed by these predators that no one would ever believe they will deter anyone with those kinds of evil compulsions.

England's doomed. It's such a miserable and unhappy place. Surely, England will get worse before it gets better.

Tommy, Honaker, VA

6 years for horrific sexual abuses to children;

6 years for raping a 12 year old girl 15 TIMES and inviting 2 adults to join in the gang rape;

WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY IS THE UNITED KINGDOM?

SK LIN, Hongkong,

Six years!! a disgrace, a much longer sentence was required,preferably life without parole.
I hope that their six years are very miserable indeed.

Pip, Dudley,West Midlands, England

The brevity of the sentences is in stark contrast to the lifetime of suffering they have caused the children they abused. Scandalous.

FreeMarketeer, oxford,

5 years? is this some kind of sick joke? and if they are alive thne they will undoubtedly return to offend again. more serious sentences are necessarry!

eddie, london, UK

What a disgusting bunch of people. How anyone can engage in these activities is beyond me - they must be completely amoral. Mrs. McCanch's Bible must either have had important chapters missing, or she had never read anything in it to give her moral guidance.

Unfortunately too many people in the Church generally are found to have suspect intentions towards children, and act them out - as have several doctors - and thus have caused untold suffering.

So is she really a Christian or is this a ploy to gain the Court's sympathy? A skillful confidence trickster will use every ploy to carry on the behaviour which has become addictive.

Christine, London, UK

"A professed Christian whose Bible has been her constant companion during ten months in custody on remand, McCanch had returned voluntarily to Britain to admit her part in the offences."

This just shows we should not give believers in religion, such as Mrs. McCanch, an assumed moral precedence over those who are not so. The horrifying nature of these crimes committed by a supposedly devout Christian is evidence enough.

Deepan, London, U.K