Paedophile's return shocks parents

5:44pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

A FATHER has spoken out about his fears that a paedophile convicted of abusing his son is returning to his home village.

Thomas Brant (pictured right in 1987) was convicted of five counts of indecent assault on a male person and two counts of indecency with a child in April 2006.

Brant, of Westfield Road, Benson, was jailed for four-and-a-half years, but is due shortly for release after just two years.

The father of Brant's young victim, who cannot be named, said villagers needed to be aware of his return.

The father is worried about the effect of Brant's feared return. He said: "He should have been castrated, chucked into jail, and the keys thrown away. He got four-and-a-half years, but is out in two years, and that is not nearly enough. I am very distressed that he is out at all, but I think it is a scandal that he is back in Benson. People should be told loudly and clearly that this man is a pervert, and he should be shunned."

Parents waiting for their children outside Benson Junior School felt they should be told about any paedophile living in the area. Several, who live around the Westfield Road estate, said they should have been warned.

Louisa Kruczko, who has four children at the school, said: "Very definitely we should have been told."

Her friend Louisa Purvis, who has one child at the school, said: "I do believe you need to know to make sure your child is safe. I do not mind who does the telling, just as long as we know."

One man going to school to collect his two daughters commented: "I have always regarded paedophilia as a disease, and going to prison does not get rid of the disease. For that reason, people should know of paedophiles living in their community."

Brant served on Benson Parish Council from 1991 to 2000, and had also helped organise village play schemes and play groups, as well as many fundraising events.

Thames Valley Police said it had no comment.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Probation Service said: "We do not comment on individual cases. But when someone is deemed to be safe to be released back into the community, there is always a robust risk management scheme in place and a multi-agency public protection arrangement."

Benson Junior School headteacher, Linda Neely, said: "I will be speaking to my adviser at Oxfordshire County Council and to the school governors."

She could not say whether a warning would be sent to parents.

Benson vicar, the Rev Andrew Hawken, said: "I did not know he was back in the village. No one has said anything to me about the situation. But at the time of his conviction in March 2006, there was a lot of feeling in the village that a miscarriage of justice had taken place."

A mother, from the Westfield Road area, who would not give her name, said: "We live too close to it - we do not want any repercussions. But we all believe it would be better to know. Most of us knew he was due out, but we did not know when, and it looks as though no one was going to tell us, but the newspapers.

"We are not going ganging up on the man, pillorying him, or anything like that. But in a village, you have to be aware of what's what."