A sex offender who’s banned from every library in Oxfordshire shouted that British justice ‘stinks’ after he was sent to the cells for losing his temper in court.
Later, Judge Michael Gledhill KC suggested it was ‘very concerning indeed’ that former music teacher Alan Roberts was said in a probation pre-sentence report to want to ‘volunteer in any capacity that makes access to young boys easier’.
“The authorities and the charities doing work in this area must be made absolutely clear that Alan Jack Roberts should not be involved in any way – directly or indirectly – he must not have an opportunity of going anywhere near young boys,” the judge said.
He added that there was a ‘huge danger allowing this man from becoming involved’ in a volunteering capacity with children.
However, 73-year-old Roberts was not in court to hear the judge’s words, having been sent to the cells at the start of the hearing when he repeatedly interrupted the prosecutor and judge.
He shouted that he could not hear with the judge was saying, that he had ‘no idea what is going on here today’, then in reply to a comment from the judge said: “Thanks very much if that’s your attitude.”
Roberts, who was later said to be suffering from extreme stress, suggested that he had told ‘them’ he should not be in court as he would struggle to keep his calm.
He said from behind the heavy glass of the dock: “If this is British justice it stinks; stinks.”
After being accompanied from the dock by a custody officer, Roberts’ muffled shouting could still be heard – including him repeating the word ‘bull***t’.
Prosecuting, Michael Speak told Oxford Crown Court on Monday (April 24) that Roberts was originally before the courts in the early 1980s when he was convicted and jailed for indecent assault.
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He found himself back at the crown court in 2016 to be sentenced for using library computers to search for indecent images of children two years earlier.
In 2019, he was sentenced for breaching the sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2016 and designed to limit his unrestricted access to the internet.
On Monday, Mr Speak said digital devices seized when he was arrested for the 2019 matters were not analysed until 2021, when it was found he had a ‘small number’ of child sex abuse images in categories B and C.
The court heard he had software on his computer that enabled it ‘to be wiped’ and that staff at two Oxford libraries contacted police after seeing Roberts using library computers. The desktop computers do not save users’ internet history.
Both represented a breach of the 2016 sexual harm prevention order, Mr Speak said.
Roberts, whose address was given at his first hearing in the magistrates’ court as HMP Bullingdon, spent a day short of a year in prison on remand awaiting trial until he was bailed last summer.
He pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.
Mitigating, Gordana Austin said Roberts had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Among his physical health complaints were sleep apnoea and problems with his blood pressure. He had been ‘extremely stressed’ about the court hearing.
A music teacher until his indecent assault conviction in the 1980s, he subsequently worked as a bus and coach driver, computer literacy trainer and piano tuner, Ms Austin said.
Judge Gledhill imposed a two year community order as an alternative to a prison sentence, saying it was ‘not in the public interest today to send him back to prison’.
Referring to the 12 months Roberts did on remand – the equivalent of a two year prison term – the judge said: “He has served his prison sentence or a great part of what would be appropriate in this case.”
He described Roberts, who it was said is banned from every public library in the county, as a 'menace to libraries' as a result of his unauthorised use of the facilities' computers.
As part of his community order, Roberts must do up to 60 rehabilitation activity requirement sessions with the probation service.
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