Is prison such a bad thing for him ?????

No real loss of freedom as virtually housebound anyway.

Will get free 24/7 care and 3 meals a day.

Has multiple health problems so will get instant wait free healthcare.

Will be in a special unit for elderly prisoners with all adaptions he needs done.

Will be kept warm and well fed with no bills to worry about.

Sounds better than most pensioners get on the "outside".

You've answered your own question there. Not much else to say really.




The weather's been mild recently, eh?

To be honest, at his age, probably better than the average care home.

He was said to be lucid with an excellent memory. I noticed that he could still get about with his walking stick as well, albeit not very fast.

We mustn't lose sight of what he did though, nor the age he did it. A lot of the abuse took place in the 70's and 80's when he would have been well into his sixties for most of that period, himself.

When you put it like that, a prison sentence does appear to have its benefits.

Then again, he might not be treated that well by other prisoners.

Oh and no worries about the pitchfork brigade putting his windows through or petrol through his letterbox etc.

The judge said he's unlikely to come out alive at his age so free 24/7/365 day care and accommodation for the rest of his life.

He also seems to show no remorse with a "you take what comes in life" (his words) so prison seems to not bother him.

I don't have a pension plan. I've always said that I'd rather be dead than live in a country that doesn't look after its elderly. Now that I think about it, I could just stab someone.

Unlikely as he'll be in a special elderly prisoners unit where others will be like him (frail and elderly).

Nothing like what you assume seeing a doctor in a prison can take weeks. Prison is nothing like what media likes to make it out to be.

These days with "uman rights" and "duty of care" you do get instant pretty much everything as the prison service don't like costly litigation if they made him wait and he died and some lawyer alledges neglect.

Stabbing someone would probably get you a suspended sentence in this country. Probably a pat on the back and a "there, there dear".
You'll need to think of something a little more heinous.....

Ah.. Stab a copper then? Right-e-o.

I thought he looked remarkably healthy walking up those steps to the court for a man of his advanced age.

It's almost as if he has fed off the misery of his poor victims like a bloody vampire - the evil old scumbag.

^ this. Even if it's technically symbolic, it's important that justice is done for his victims sakes and a sense of closure for them. We can't just say "oh, you'd suffer more if we didn't bother", or "there's no point because you're really old".

I think that's the oldest paedophile that I've read a report about. A total of 30 counts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ngham-38329409

I initally read this as '10 year old paedophile' and was starting to think how could a 10 year old be a paedophile.

10 is the age of criminal responsibility, so it's not impossible I don't think.

Just worked out he was the age I am now, in 1958 !!!

The police spokeswoman on the video in the link, said she hadn't been affected as much by anybody as by Clarke, due to his complete lack of remorse or compassion for his victims. Basically though he's just a very old man who no longer gives a crap about anything. Or maybe it was due to the harshness of the age he was brought up in - who knows.

What does surprise me is the age he was, at the time these offences are reported from. Makes you wonder if that's when he first started, or whether he'd had many years of offending prior to that, but nothing was ever reported.

Yes, he's pretty much got away with it. At his age, he has nothing to lose and will likely get better care and protection than he could outside.

I'm glad that he has at least been caught before he died (unlike so many others, including JS, who died a free man).

Well if the victims had come forward at the time, instead of 30 or 40 years later, then he'd have been in a position to serve his full sentence. Saying that the sentences for these types of offences in those days were much less than they are now.

He can only be sentenced based on what the sentence was at the time. So 5 years is the max IIRC (instead of 7 or 14).

They also probably would have been less likely to have been believed then

Well he was told yesterday he will face a double figure sentence, so how does that work?

I think he has admitted to around 9 separate incidents, so there is probably a totting up of sentences going on.

Yeah, it'll be 5 years max per count. Consecutive sentences are pretty rare in the UK, but in cases like this (see also Max Clifford) it sometimes happens.