Ex-BBC Radio Star Peter Rowell Jailed Again for Sex Offender Breaches
Peter Rowell, the disgraced former BBC Radio Bristol presenter, has been locked up once more. The 67-year-old broke strict sex offender notification laws, landing him back behind bars.
Fall from Fame: The Dark History of Peter Rowell
- Rowell was a well-known voice on BBC’s Afternoon Show until his 2012 conviction.
- He pleaded guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault against five girls under 16, offenses dating from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
- The father-of-one was also found guilty of possessing over 400 indecent images of children.
Repeated Lawbreaking Sees Rowell Back in Court
As part of his sentence, Rowell was ordered to stay on the sex offenders register and report any address where he stays, especially if children live there. He flouted these rules multiple times, Newport Magistrates’ Court revealed.
- He illegally stayed with a child under 18 for more than 12 hours at one address.
- He moved 30 miles from his Abergavenny home to Pontypridd without notifying police.
- Rowell also failed to report another residence where he stayed a week or longer between November last year and March.
29 Weeks Behind Bars for Sex Offender Breaches
Now from Wickwar, South Gloucestershire, Rowell pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching his sex offender notification duties. More than a decade after his original six-year jail term, he was sentenced to 29 weeks in prison.
Judge Condemns ‘Dark Secret’ Behind Glitzy Career
Judge David Ticehurst blasted Rowell at his 2012 sentencing: “You had a life and lifestyle that would have been the envy of many — an apparently successful career in a glamorous and glittering world. Behind that public image you hid a dark secret.” “You were attracted to young girls, sexually abusing and exploiting them for your own gratification. This was not a one-off with a star-struck teenager, but multiple offences involving five girls over five years. They thought they were getting a peek behind the media curtain — in truth, you used it to abuse them.”
Once an ITV Newsreader, Now Convicted Predator
Before joining the BBC in 2010, Rowell was a familiar ITV West newsreader for over ten years. His career collapsed after police raided his home in 2011, unveiling his vile collection of child abuse images. In March 2011, Rowell sparked a police search when he vanished, missing a radio show and leaving his car abandoned in a supermarket car park. He was later found safe in Keswick, Cumbria.
