A MAN WHO fled to Ireland from England after an arrest warrant was issued for possession of indecent images of children has been sentenced.
55-year-old Julian Myerscough, formerly from Lowestoft in Suffolk, left Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday 30 September 2015, during a recess while the jury on his case retired to consider their verdict. He travelled to Ireland after fleeing the court.
A Crown Court warrant was issued for his for his arrest and Suffolk Police officers immediately began enquiries to locate him.
Officers discovered that he was en route to Ireland, travelling by ferry from Holyhead.
He was detained under this warrant by garda officers in a Dublin city centre hotel on the morning of 2 October.
Myerscough was subsequently remanded in custody after appearing before the High Court in Dublin and Suffolk Police then began working with Irish officials and the National Crime Agency to bring Myerscough back to the UK.
However, he lodged a number of appeals to his extradition with the Irish courts, culminating in the High Court in Dublin, stating that he should be released from prison in Ireland. He deemed that too much time had passed and he was being unlawfully detained.
A decision was made to sentence him in his absence at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.
Almost two years after he absconded from the court, Myerscough was yesterday sentenced in his absence at Chelmsford to three years and six months imprisonment. He was also given a sexual harm prevention order.
Myerscough was accused of 13 counts of possession of indecent images and three counts of breaching a sexual offences prevention order and was found guilty of all charges in his absence.
His sentence was passed at Chelmsford by the judge who had presided over his trial at Ipswich.
She said that just because he had been in custody in Ireland for two years, it did not necessarily mean this would be taken off his sentence.
Detective Sergeant Simon Fitch, of the Protecting Vulnerable People Directorate, said:
“Julian Myerscough is a convicted sex offender and I am pleased that he has finally been sentenced. However, he appears to be unable to accept responsibility for his own actions and seems determined to avoid facing his punishment.
He may currently be living as a free man, but I am confident justice will catch up with him eventually and we will continue our efforts to return him to the United Kingdom so that he can serve the sentence handed down to him yesterday.
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