Convicted paedophile and former BBC presenter sent back to prison

A former BBC and ITV presenter who sexually assaulted five girls has been sent back to prison for failing to tell police he had been at a property where there was a child. Peter Rowell, 67, was jailed for six years in 2012 after admitting 12 indecent assaults involving girls under 16, and making and possessing indecent images. Rowell, who worked for ITV West before moving to present the afternoon show for BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Somerset in 2010 and 2011, met his victims while DJing for commercial radio station GWR FM in the 1980s. He has now admitted breaching sex offender notification requirements and was sent back to prison for 24 weeks at Newport Magistrates' Court on 1 April. Rowell, formerly of the Abergavenny area in Wales, pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with a notification requirement between 1 November 2025 and 26 March this year. The charges, first reported by the Gazette in Gloucestershire, state Rowell was present at an address where a child resided for more than 12 hours and failed to notify Gwent Police within three days. At the same court in June last year, Rowell admitted three counts of failing to notify police of being present at an addr