A mum who famously took the law into her own hands after confronting her elderley neighbour – a secret paedophile who changed his name before abusing her sons – has now shared her one regret
A mum who stabbed a paedophile to death for sexually abusing her three young sons has revealed her one regret.
Sarah Sands knifed Michael Pleasted, 77, eight times in 2014, before serving time in prison for taking the law into her own hands.
Pleasted was a convicted paedophile who had changed his name from Robin Moult to hide his dark past of sickening crimes against children.
After learning he had abused her own kids, and subsequently was refusing to plead guilty, Sands went to his block of flats at night armed with a knife. She then killed him in a “determined and sustained attack”.
She was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder after losing control and was jailed for three-and-a-half years, which was subsequently increased to seven-and-half years.
Sands is now a free woman after serving nearly four years and she gave a heart-wrenching interview to James English on his Anything Goes podcast.
He asked his guest: “What regret do you have from it? Do you have any? Hindsight is always a wonderful thing but is there things you would have changed?” Sands answered: “Only one – letting him anywhere near us. That’s all.”
English responded: “How much does that play on your mind?” Breaking down in tears, Sands said “a lot”, before asking to take a break.
As for the killing itself, she later revealed in the interview: “I forgave me.” Asked how long it took, she replied: “A long time. That was actually just quite recent. So still quite new.”
Her brave boys, Bradley, 12 at the time, and twins Alfie and Reece, then aged 11, are now young adults and have since waived their right to anonymity.
Sands was a single mum when she moved to Silvertown, East London, just months before she became a killer. This was when Pleasted entered their lives.
In previous interviews, she labelled him a role model and described how she would cook for him and keep him company. And telling English about her first impressions, she said: “Definitely grandad figure, when you look at that grandad figure. I had a grandad. He was amazing. Never nothing to worry about. When I met Michael he definitely gave that persona.”
Pleasted eventually asked Bradley for help with the newspapers at the local newsagents and he eventually got to know his younger brothers before inviting them to his home.
The boys later confided in their mum that they had been molested by him.
Police were contacted and Pleasted was charged before he was allowed out on bail before the trial. But on November 29, 2014, Sands, having drunk two bottles of wine and a small bottle of whiskey, confronted him.
CCTV footage showed her in a lift holding a 30cm kitchen blade. She still maintains that she never intended to kill him, and that her goal was to ask him to confess, to avoid her sons going through more trauma. But when he accused her sons of lying, things quickly escalated.
Despite forgiving herself for the crime, she gave a candid insight into how much she still has to work on herself mentally.
“It never stops,” she said. “It never stops. Every single day. There is no limit to how much I have to do. Some days are worse than others. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, they are all severe, absolutely severe. But I have always been very much, ‘I can do this’. So I love meditation, yoga, exercise.”
It was revealed in court that Pleasted was a monster who had 24 convictions, something neighbours had no idea about.
Since her release, Sands has been campaigning to stop paedophiles being allowed to change their names.
