An east London mum who spent 4 years in prison for killing the man who abused her three sons has warned: ‘if you touch children, there has to be consequences.’

Sarah Sands was jailed for stabbing Michael Pleasted eight times in 2014 after her boys said they were abused by him. It turned out their 77-year-old had a string of convictions and had changed his name to Robin Moult to avoid detection.

Her sons have now all turned 18 and waived their anonymity to recount the experience of having their mum murder their paedophile neighbour and go to prison for it:

Bradley, who was 12 when he says he was abused, told the BBC:

‘I thought hats off. I’m not going to deny it.’

Alfie, who was 11 at the time, recalled how learning of his death ‘did make us feel safer’, and added:

‘It didn’t slow down the nightmares. But it did give us a sense of security because you didn’t have to walk down the street thinking he was going to come around the corner.’

Twin Reece said it was ‘nice knowing that he was dead’ but said the brothers ‘would often wake up crying [saying] “where’s mum?”’.

Well it’s a good thing they’re all grateful for it. Unfortunately the state has to deter people from killing paedophiles, which meant their mum ended up in prison on manslaughter charges and served 4 years (out of a 7-year sentence). CCTV images caught Sands, who had drank two bottles of wine, carrying a knife and heading to Pleasted’s address where she wound up killing him, though she told police she only intended to confront him.This is Pleasted – the man who abused her boys:

If only the system had done its job, maybe this all could have been avoided (via BBC):

He had 24 previous convictions for sex offending spanning three decades. His crimes had carried jail terms. But nobody in the area, including the local council that housed him, knew about his past.

You can watch the whole interview with the Sands family on BBC iPlayer HERE.