Hertfordshire police and crime commissioner calls for justice change after £10 fine for serial sex offender

Hertfordshire’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) has called for changes to the justice system after a serial sex offender was fined £10.

Leon Clarke, 49, struck at a railway station in the county and three other locations. At Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, he admitted exposing his genitals with the intent that someone would see them and be caused alarm or distress.

Herts PCC Jonathan Ash-Edwards said he was “horrified” that the offender from Sutton in London was fined £10 for seven counts of exposure - the equivalent of £1.42 for each offence.

The county’s Conservative law and order boss, who was elected in May 2024, said: “Lots of people come into our towns on public transport. Although I don’t have any remit for policing on our rail network (which sits with British Transport Police), I take a keen interest in anything impacting the safety of Hertfordshire.”

One of Clarke’s offences took place at Croxley Station in Watford Road.

Mr Ash-Edwards said: “Too often, victims bravely come forward to tell their story, the police do a great job to catch the offender and then the justice system just goes and lets everyone down.

“We need a more serious approach in our country to the sentencing of sex offences. But no one can even challenge this sentence as the Unduly Lenient Sentences Scheme doesn’t apply to cases in magistrates’ courts.

“I’ve written to the Justice Secretary and Attorney General calling for this scheme to be extended to all sex offence cases, regardless of which court hears them.”

Clarke was also handed a one-year community order and a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which restricts his contact with women and children. He has been added to the sex offenders register until 2030.