An east London mother who stabbed a convicted paedophile to death in Silvertown when she confronted him about child sex abuse has been cleared of murder - but found guilty of killing him.

Sarah Sands, 32, took the law into her own hands after hearing her 77-year-old neighbour Mike Pleasted had allegedly sexually touched three young boys.

On the evening of November 28 last year, she armed herself with a 12-inch knife and stabbed Pleasted eight times at his flat in Drew Road.

After the "determined and sustained attack", the victim crawled from his living room and collapsed in his hallway where he bled to death.

Within hours, Sands handed herself into police, telling an officer: "Who houses a f****** paedophile on an estate, like, seriously? He was, like, asking for trouble."

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Sarah Sands seen on CCTV carrying the knife

At the time, Pleasted was on bail awaiting trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on two charges of sexual assault on two children aged under 13. Police were investigating a further allegation he had abused a third boy.

The Old Bailey heard that before the allegations emerged, Pleasted had previously been convicted and served time for other child sex offences.

Sands sobbed as she told jurors she did not mean to cause Pleasted serious harm when she armed herself with a knife and went to confront him after drinking wine and brandy.

She said she had gone there to plead with him to admit his crimes and spare his young accusers from having to go to court.

But when he answered the door, he ignored her request and just "smirked" as he told her the boys were all liars who had ruined his life, the court heard.

Sands said: "I was frightened. It was not how it was meant to go. He was meant to listen to me."

Describing the killing, she said: "He was in front of me. We were staring at each other. I was poking him. He was looking dead into my face and he was just standing there and I don't think either of us realised what had happened. Neither of us moved.

"I just had it (the knife) in my hand and I poked him with it in the front and that's when we both realised at the same time what had happened and he grabbed me.

"He was frightening me and I pushed him away and I left. That was it."

After handing herself in, Sands told a police officer that the victim had touched some children "so I took care of it - I stabbed him".

During a police interview, a distraught Sands said she had tried to help him, taking him food while all the time he was allegedly sexually abusing children.

She told an officer: "That's the devil, that's who that is. So we stopped that, I had to stop that."

She explained she had thought Mr Pleasted was just a nice old man, adding: "He's f****** harmless now, ain't he?"

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for three days before clearing her of murder and convicting her of manslaughter.

Sentencing was adjourned for reports and will take place on a date to be fixed in September.

Trial Judge Nicholas Cooke QC told the jury that an inquiry was under way into the decision to bail Pleasted, adding that the jurors were clearly "troubled by the background" of the case.

Pleasted, who also went by the name of Robin Moult, had 24 previous convictions for sex offences spanning three decades before he met the children he was accused of sexually molesting last year.

He served sentences of between nine months and six years for sex crimes which included indecent assault on a male over 16, indecent assault on a male under 16 and indecent assault on a male under 14.

The first offence occurred in 1970 and the last offence for which he was convicted was in 1991, the court heard.

The jury found Sands guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control, rejecting the alternative verdicts of either murder or manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, of the Met Police's homicide and major crime command, led the investigation.

He said: "CCTV footage clearly pieced together the movements of Sands in this case and confirmed her involvement in the manslaughter of Mr Pleasted at his home address.

"Forensic evidence found on the knife she was carrying also linked her to the scene of the brutal attack."