Court spares serial child sex attacker from Brownhills
A paedophile who preyed on vulnerable children for four decades escaped a life sentence thanks to a Court of Appeal hearing.
Christopher Astrauskas, aged 53, from Lindon Drive in Brownhills, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on a child between April 1998 and April 2000 at Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this year.
He was jailed for 18 years.
The court heard Astrauskas first committed offences against children in the 1980s, but was first jailed for an indecent assault in Wishaw, Scotland, in 1995.
Following his release from prison Astrauskas moved to Walsall where he came to police attention as they searched for two missing boys in June 2014.
His case was back in court this week as the attorney general, Jeremy Wright QC, asked three Court of Appeal judges to impose a life sentence.
Mr Wright argued that Astrauskas is an extremely dangerous individual and it could not be estimated when that would change.
But although they agreed that Astrauskas is a "danger", judges led by Lord Justice Simon decided against a life term.
The ultimate sentence was not appropriate, said the judge, who instead added three years to a two-year supervision period after Astrauskas is freed.
