A former BBC Radio One DJ, Mark Page, has had his prison sentence extended to 18 years following an appeal that deemed his original term unduly lenient for arranging child sex offences in the Philippines.
Page, aged 63 and a divorced father of three, was convicted in March 2022 at Teesside Crown Court of four counts of arranging the commission of a child sex offence, spanning from 2016 to 2019. The offences involved him negotiating sexual encounters with children as young as 12, including a girl aged 12 and a boy aged 13, attempting to haggle the price down to 3,000 pesos (approximately £44). He exploited his frequent business trips and charity work in the Philippines to facilitate these acts, with two offences committed remotely from the UK in 2016 and two during trips to the country in 2016 and 2019.
The case came to light after Facebook alerted a charity to concerning messages on its platform, prompting the charity to inform UK authorities. In January 2020, Cleveland Police raided Page's home, seizing his laptop, mobile phone, and tablet. During police interviews, Page provided 'no comment' answers and later claimed to the jury that he had been hacked, though he had not mentioned this earlier. The court heard how Page used his position and travels to cover his 'perverted interest in underage sex'.
Judge Watson, who initially sentenced Page to 12 years, described the offences as 'the very embodiment of depravity' and involving 'grotesque sexual abuse of young children' for 'sexual gratification'. He noted that Page took advantage of poverty and deprivation in the Philippines, where children are forced into prostitution due to economic pressures. A lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also imposed.
On 10 June 2022, at the Court of Appeal in London, Lord Justice William Davis, Mr Justice Martin Spencer, and Judge Kristina Montgomery upheld the Solicitor General Alex Chalk's application to increase the sentence. Barrister Benjamin Holt argued that the original term did not reflect the 'totality' of Page's criminality, suggesting 12 to 24 years. Page's representative, Trevor Burke QC, sought a reduction to 10 years, but the panel concluded the 12-year sentence was unduly lenient. Lord Justice Davis stated that Page's 'overall criminality' was not adequately addressed by the initial term.
Page, who worked at Radio One in the 1980s, arrived at court in March 2022 facing the charges. This case highlights the exploitation of vulnerable children abroad and the role of international cooperation in bringing offenders to justice, as reported by ITV News Tyne Tees.