Ex-BBC Presenter Sentenced to 29 Weeks for Notification Breaches

Peter Rowell, a 67-year-old former BBC Radio Bristol presenter from Wickwar in South Gloucestershire, was sentenced to 29 weeks in prison on Friday for breaching sex offender notification requirements. The breaches involved unauthorized travel and stays, including one instance where he spent more than 12 hours at a property with a child under 18, authorities said.

Rowell pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with the conditions imposed after his 2012 conviction for child sex offenses. Court records indicate that in one breach, he traveled approximately 30 miles from his home to an address in Pontypridd, South Wales, and stayed there without notifying police of his whereabouts. In another, he did not report staying at a location for seven days or longer between November 2023 and March 2024. The notification requirements, part of his registration as a sex offender, mandate that individuals inform authorities of any overnight stays, particularly those involving minors, to monitor their movements.

This latest sentencing comes more than a decade after Rowell received a six-year prison term at Bristol Crown Court in 2012. He had admitted to 12 counts of indecent assault on...