Shamed ex-Radio One and Teesside DJ has jail term for child sex offences increased

Ex-Radio One DJ Mark Page, who also worked on local radio across Teesside, was jailed for 12 years earlier this year after he was convicted of arranging to have sex with vulnerable children in the Philippines.

But his sentence has today (June 10) been increased by the Court of Appeal in London to 18 years after judges said the original term was too lenient.

Three senior judges concluded that Page’s “overall criminality” was not reflected by the 12-year sentence given at Teesside Crown Court in March.

Page’s barrister Trevor Burke QC had argued that sentence was too long and suggested it should be cut to 10 years.

But Lord Justice William Davis said the appeal panel had concluded that the sentence was unduly lenient.

The sentence was reconsidered following an application by Solicitor General Alex Chalk.

Page, 63, a divorced father-of-three from Stockton, was found guilty of four counts of arranging the commission of a child sex offence between 2016 and 2019.

They included contact Page had via a webcam from his home, while two related to frequent trips he made to the Philippines.

Original sentencing judge Judge Paul Watson said: “You took advantage of the poverty and deprivation in an under-developed country in which children are routinely forced, through economic and social deprivation, into acts of prostitution.”

He described Page’s offending as “the very embodiment of depravity”.

Page, who worked for Radio One in the 1980s, BBC Radio Cleveland, and various independent stations, had denied the charges.

He later worked as an announcer at Middlesbrough Football Club.