Sex Offender Social Worker Spared Jail To Look After Wife

A Forest of Dean social worker who molested a teenage girl has been spared a prison sentence so he can care for his bedridden young wife.

Kim Powles, 48, of Queens Way, Broadwell, Coleford, walked free from court with a suspended sentence after a judge heard that he provides ‘twenty-four hour care’ for his teenage wife.

Sentencing Powles to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Jamie Tabor QC said it was only his ‘exceptional’ domestic circumstances that saved him from prison.

During his trial earlier this year a jury heard that Powles abused the girl by touching her during a ‘playfight’ in his bedroom.

The court heard that the girl, then only 16, often went to his home to use his computer, which he kept in a bedroom.

Powles, who still denies the offence, was convicted of intentionally touching the girl sexually without her consent between June and September last year.

Lynne Matthews, defending, said Powles’ wife had a long-term bone condition which meant she was completely dependent on her husband.

She told Gloucester Crown Court that a custodial sentence would mean she would have to go into a nursing home.

She added that Powles had no previous convictions.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said: “I want to see if I can find an alternative to an immediate custodial sentence because of the domestic circumstances that he endures.”

Probation officer Patrick Tracey told the court that, as a sex offender, Powles would not be suitable for community service.

He said Powles would also not be suitable a for a sex offender’s treatment programme, because he still does not admit that he committed the offence.

Judge Tabor told Powles: “You have looked after a number of people who are considerably more vulnerable than you for much of your life.

“I’ve no doubt at all that when you assaulted your young victim you were trying it on to see how far you could go.

“It is a very unpleasant picture when a man of 48 is acting that way towards a girl who is just at the age of consent.

“I have heard that your domestic circumstances are exceptional – you have a very young wife who is not much older than your victim. She is bedridden and requires constant care.

“The only reason I am suspending the sentence is because of the wholly exceptional circumstances in your particular case.”

Powles will also be subject to 18-month probation supervision and a 10-year sex offenders prevention order banning him from working with or being alone with children.