Claire Wilson
MICHAEL SOUTER is to appeal against his conviction for a string of child sex offences.
The 60-year-old, who worked as a travel journalist in the Costa del Sol after a stint at BBC Norfolk, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in October last year after he was found guilty of 19 counts of historic child sex abuse against seven different boys aged between 11 and 16, between 1979 and 1999.
Souter, who denied all counts, was also convicted of a further seven counts relating to the making and possession of indecent images, not guilty of one count of possession of an indecent image of a child while the jury could not reach a verdict on another count.
But following his conviction Souter has lodged an application to appeal his sentence with the criminal division of the Court of Appeal in London.
A spokesman confirmed an appeal application had been received although no date had yet been set for a hearing.
It was also unclear whether Souter was intending to appeal against all or just part of his sentence.
Judge Mark Lucraft, who sentenced Souter, branded some of his evidence as “bizarre” and his attempts to blame his victims, the police and Judge Lucraft himself of conspiring against him as “pathetic”.
He described Souter’s crimes as “a most appalling catalogue of abuse of the grossest kind”.
