LONDON, Sept 27 — A judge yesterday spared from jail a sex offender who pleaded guilty to several offences after crashing a car into the gates of the UK prime minister’s Downing Street complex in central London.
Judge Christopher Hehir handed Seth Kneller, 43, from Crewe in northwest England, a suspended prison sentence after the incident in central London in May, which prompted fears of a terrorist attack.
Armed police arrested Kneller at the scene shortly after the vehicle he was driving collided with the gates of Downing Street, as panicked pedestrians fled in fear.
Nobody was injured during the incident.
As he was being detained, he told officers that he had “had enough” and needed “help”.
In a video posted on social media earlier that day, Kneller blamed politicians for society’s ills and said “someone has to pay”.
He added that he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism and asked: “What is there to live for anymore?”
Police examining his phone later found indecent images of children — aged eight to 12 — and discovered that Kneller had accessed a website known to contain indecent images of children nearly 400 times.
He pleaded guilty to a count of dangerous driving earlier this month, and to two charges of making indecent images of children in June.
Sentencing him at Southwark Crown Court in south London, Hehir branded Kneller’s actions a “violent attack... of the utmost seriousness” but opted against jailing him.
He instead handed him a 15-month jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered him to complete two rehabilitation programmes.
He was also banned from driving for 18 months and made him the subject of a seven-year sexual harm prevention order.
Hehir said Kneller’s lack of previous convictions, early guilty pleas, mental health issues and a “good prospect” of rehabilitation were among the factors that persuaded him to spare the defendant prison.
Kneller, wearing a blue shirt and purple tie, thanked the judge and said he was “very grateful”.
His lawyer Charles Hannaford said Kneller was suffering from a “mental health breakdown” at the time of the Downing Street crash.
“This is not an individual who has thought through the consequences of their actions and how they would affect another individual,” he told the court. — AFP
