Former DUP leader Edwin Poots has called for a harsher sentence against a councillor convicted of child sex offences.
This week, the disgraced former DUP councillor Billy Walker (60) received 100 hours of community service and three years on probation after admitting two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child.
Downpatrick Crown Court was told he had contacted what he believed were two teenage girls while posing as a 24-year-old man.
He was also given a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and told to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.
Commenting on Twitter, Mr Poots said: “I have contacted the Public Prosecution Service and Attorney Generals office today asking for the lenient sentence handed down to Billy Walker to be appealed.
“A man in his 50s grooming teenagers is perverse, sickening and unacceptable. The punishment must be increased.”
The law states that judges must act within sentencing guidelines, taking into account factors such as guilty pleas, co-operation with police and remorse.
It follows another DUP councillor, Glyn Hanna, defending his decision to provide a character reference for Walker, praising his charitable and community work.
When contacted by the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Hanna said the reference contained “nothing of importance”.
Questioned on whether it was appropriate to provide a reference for a known sex offender, he said: “Anything I do is my own business, to be quite honest with you, so I think that question is not really relevant.
“To be quite honest with you, anybody who commits sex offences, to be quite honest with you, is simply wrong.”
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