Ex-EastEnders actor Joseph Shade was handed an 18-month suspended jail term
AN ex-EastEnders actor has today dodged jail after admitting sexual offences against three teenage girls while in a position of trust as a youth worker.
Joseph Shade, 24, who played Peter Beale in the soap from 1998 to 2004, confessed during his trial to sending sexual text messages to girls and touching one on the bottom.
Today at Norwich Crown Court he was handed a suspended prison sentence of 18 months.
On the fourth day of his trial, Shade, of Sheringham, Norfolk, changed his pleas.
The 24-year-old admitted five counts of causing or inciting a child under 18 to engage in sexual activity while in a position of trust and one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
A further five sexual offence charges will lie on file.
Judge Maureen Bacon QC, sentencing Shade on Friday, told him: “You sought to engage vulnerable teenage girls in sexual activity when you were in a position of trust.”
He relied on support from loved ones after admitting offences against three teen girlsAt the time, prosecutor David Wilson said: “He himself attended that youth project as a young person and got help from them.
“As he reached the age of 18 he became formally employed as a youth worker and in this capacity as a youth worker he then engaged with many young people who came from similar backgrounds and vulnerabilities as he had.
“During the course of his employment he accepts by his pleas that his relationships became too close to a number of attendees and he would engage with them by texting them messages asking them to have sex or to send sexual pictures of breasts and the like.
“On one occasion and only one occasion he touched one of them.”
Mr Wilson said Shade had no previous convictions and was “tearful and expressed a degree of remorse” when he was interviewed by police.
Shade was bailed by Judge Maureen Bacon who warned he could be sent to prison.
The ex-TV actor was charged with the offences in October following an investigation by Norfolk Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit.
The trial of Shade, who lives with his girlfriend, was due to last five to six days.
After starring in the soap Shade became a youth worker
Shade was handed an 18-month prison sentenced suspended for 24 months, a five-year sexual harm prevention order barring him from working with children and vulnerable adults, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
He must also sign the Sex Offenders Register and complete a 60-day offender programme.
OTHERS WHO LOST THE PLOT
HOME Alone star MACAULAY CULKIN was said to be worth £38million when he retired, aged 14. But he was later given three suspended prison terms for drug possession.
GARY COLEMAN, star of 1980s US sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, was bankrupt by 1999. He was charged with assault while working as a security guard and spent a night in prison for attacking his wife.
JAMIE WAYLETT, who played Harry Potter bully Vincent Crabbe, was jailed for two years in 2012 for taking part in the London riots the previous August.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4624369/joseph-shade-eastenders-peter-beale-child-sex-offences/amp/