Peter Rowell

Peter Rowell, a once-prominent broadcaster in the West Country, was convicted in 2012 for a series of sexual offences against young girls, marking the exposure of a dark secret hidden behind his successful media career. Originally from Sunderland, Rowell had built a reputation as a presenter on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Somerset, where he hosted the Afternoon Show featuring music and celebrity interviews. He also worked as a news reader on ITV West for over a decade and as a DJ for GWR in the 1980s. However, between 1989 and the early 1990s, Rowell exploited his celebrity status to lure underage girls to his studio under the pretence of offering insights into the media world, where he indecently assaulted them.

Arrested on 1 April 2011 following complaints from five women who were under 16 at the time of the incidents, Rowell's downfall began when he went missing in March 2011 after failing to appear for his radio programme. His car was found abandoned in a supermarket car park in Yate, Gloucestershire, prompting a police search that located him in Keswick, Cumbria. Upon his arrest, Rowell confessed to taking indecent photographs of children and possessing over 400 such images. He pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to 12 counts of indecent assault and six counts of making an indecent photograph of a child. Judge David Ticehurst, sentencing him to six years' imprisonment and requiring him to register as a sex offender, remarked on the contrast between Rowell's public persona and his crimes: '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 were a man that hid a dark secret. You were attracted to young girls, sexually abusing and exploiting for your own gratification.' The judge further noted that Rowell had committed a series of offences over five years involving five separate girls, using his showbiz connections to attract them.

Released after serving his sentence, Rowell, now 67 and residing in Wickwar, South Gloucestershire, continued to flout the conditions of his sex offender registration. Between 1 November 2023 and 26 March 2024, while living in a flat on Hereford Road in Abergavenny, he failed to notify police of an address where he had stayed for more than 12 hours in the presence of an under-18-year-old, and another where he had stayed for seven days or longer. These breaches occurred in Pontypridd. At Newport Magistrates' Court this month, Rowell pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching sex offender notification requirements. Magistrates described his actions as showing a flagrant disregard for court orders, sentencing him to 29 weeks in prison. Gwent Police, who investigated the recent breaches, released an image of Rowell in connection with the case.

The 2012 conviction stemmed from historical abuses that came to light years later, highlighting the long-term impact on Rowell's victims. As the father of one, his crimes shattered the trust placed in him by young fans seeking media exposure. This recent imprisonment underscores the ongoing monitoring required for convicted sex offenders in the UK.