How Did We Not Know Ross McFarlane Has Been Jailed For Paedophilia Offences?

I think everyone in the GolfCentralDaily community was shocked not only to hear that Sky Sports analyst Ross McFarlane had been jailed following conviction on paedophilia charges, but that the news was kept so quiet that very few people knew.

When a reader told me about McFarlane last night, I have to say I had to do a double take. I had him pegged as a nice guy and a good commentator.  I remember once even bumping into him at a waterpark in Tenerife with my four kids by my side. Imagine how weird that feels now?

And what about Sky Sports? They swept that under the carpet didn't they?

What makes it even worse is that McFarlane first received a suspended sentence but was then jailed after breaching a court order by trying to access child pornography covertly through a kids X Box.

The news story actually dates back three months to the 31st March 2014  when The Mirror newspaper reported the story.

The 52-year-old was given a 10-month suspended jail term on January 30, but is now charged with breaking the rules attached to the sentence.
A former Sky Sports commentator and ex-professional golfer who breached his sentence for paedophile offences weeks after being spared jail was locked up for 18 months today.
Ross McFarlane was hauled back before the court for breaching his ban on being alone with children.
The 52-year-old father was also caught using his Xbox games console to view child porn in a bid to avoid police monitoring his online activity.
McFarlane admitted three counts of breaching a 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order at Aylesbury crown court yesterday.
The order banning him from contact with children under 16 without parental permission had been in place since 2012 when he was first convicted of child porn offences.
Just four weeks ago McFarlane was spared jail at the same court for possession of 162 indecent images of children.
At the hearing on January 30 he was given 10 months in prison, suspended for two years.
But McFarlane’s latest offences came to light when the “shocked and horrified” mother of a child who was friends with the defendant’s son contacted police after hearing about his sentence on January 30.
She said her children, aged nine and 11, had unsupervised contact with McFarlane at various times during 2013, although there was no indication anything untoward had happened.
Prosecutor Nilam Salh described one incident when the mother and one of her children had been at McFarlane’s home in 2013.
She said: “The children were playing on the Xbox in the lounge. She and Mr McFarlane were having coffee.
“The boys pressed a button on the Xbox and what she describes as pornography came up on the TV screen. It was hastily turned off by Mr McFarlane.”
Judge Francis Sheridan told McFarlane: “You had a phenomenally good career. You were a presenter on Sky Sports and other channels.
“Because of your interest in child pornography you have thrown all of that away.
“The work dried up, of course it did. They’re entitled to protect their organisation and children.”
The judge also banned McFarlane from going within 50 yards of his children’s schools in Buckinghamshire.
Defending, Helen Warren told the court: “He accepts he has been at his house on one or two occasions but at least on one his mother was there.
“He accepts the breach is a serious matter.
“He is somebody who has had a great deal of success in his life and as a result of these convictions has fallen quite hard.”
The former sports star, of Stoke Poges, Bucks, has also previously been ordered to sign onto the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

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