Thomas Peacock acquitted by Court of Appeal of child sex offending

A man who told the judge jailing him “this is not what justice is” has been acquitted of having sexual intercourse with a child.

A man has been acquitted of sexually abusing a child after the Court of Appeal determined it was reasonable he believed she was of legal age.

Thomas Francis Peacock, 45, was vindicated after telling the judge who jailed him for over a year that “this is not what justice is”.

Judge Liesl Kudelka found Mr Peacock guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse last year.

During his trial, the court heard Mr Peacock met the “lonely” 16-year-old on social media in late 2019 before they had sexual intercourse in April 2020.

Thomas Peacock was acquitted of child sex offending by the Court of Appeal. Picture: Facebook

In their judgment, Acting Chief Justice Mark Livesey and Justices Sophie David and Chris Bleby said on the balance of probabilities Mr Peacock’s belief that the complainant was 17 was a reasonable one for him to hold.
The court heard Mr Peacock bragged to a friend in a text about having a threesome, describing the complainant and her friend as “both only 17 omg”.

Justices Livesey, David and Bleby said that Mr Peacock’s evidence was consistent with a statutory declaration signed by the complainant that she knew he thought they were 17 because they told him that.

When Judge Liesl Kudelka asked during the trial if Mr Peacock could have made more inquiries into the child’s age, his counsel, Nick Vadasz asked how he could have done that as she didn’t have a driver’s licence.
“All she had to do, however, to put him off is say ‘You’ll get locked up if you hop into bed with me’,” he said.

During sentencing in May, Judge Kudelka said although she found the complainant was determined to have Peacock believe she was older than she was, that was a reflection of her immaturity and vulnerability.

“In hindsight you admitted that you probably should have been more across it. There is no doubt you should have been more across it,” she said.
Mr Peacock had a drunken outburst while being sentenced, telling Judge Kudelka “this is not what justice is” as he was jailed for his “non-crime”.

Justices Livesey, David and Bleby determined Judge Kudelka’s reasons for rejecting Mr Peacock’s evidence were not adequate and acquitted him of the charge.