A convicted murderer paedophile from Welling, Ben Worden, who inflicted a lethal blow outside a Bexley kebab establishment, has returned to prison following a conviction for child sexual offences. He will be out of prison in under 3 years to carry on with his illustrious criminal career thanks to British Justice.
In 2012, Ben Worden was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of the manslaughter of Paul Gunner, a lighting specialist for Strictly Come Dancing.
Mr. Gunner was commemorating his 32nd birthday in Bexley Village when he was struck at least twice by Worden, a somebody he had never encountered before.
The confrontation transpired when Ben Worden, who had been consuming alcohol excessively and had previously engaged in another dispute that evening, reacted adversely to Mr. Gunner rapping on the window of Charcoal Grill on Bourne Road to gain his brother’s attention.
Mr. Gunner did not regain consciousness following the punch from Ben Worden, which resulted in him falling and striking his head on the asphalt.
During the trial, in which Ben Worden was acquitted of murder, the jury was informed that he approached a group of girls, boasting, “I just assaulted someone – observe my knuckles.”
Ben Worden, aged 46 and hailing from Welling, has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison.
On Monday, June 2, Woolwich Crown Court was informed that Ben Worden transmitted sexual communications via Facebook to individuals he presumed to be 13 and 14 years old, but were, in fact, ‘decoy’ accounts used by paedophile hunters.
Ben Worden, depicted in 2012, was incarcerated for six years for manslaughter. In late 2023, Ben Worden dispatched friend requests to both ‘ladies’ [DEFENCE CALLS CHILDREN, LADIES] within a week, according to prosecutor Rebecca Foulkes.
Notwithstanding being informed of their ages, Worden proceeded to transmit sexual messages to both individuals and to the ’14-year-old,’ to whom he transmitted explicit videos of himself, urged her to engage in masturbation, expressed a desire to engage in sexual intercourse with her, and solicited “sexy” photographs.
The communications were relayed to the police, resulting in Ben Worden’s arrest.
In interview he told police he had cocaine and alcohol problems and when high he would contact people on Facebook.
He said he did not know the girls were underage but later pleaded guilty to five charges – two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity.
Robert Fitt, defending, said Ben Worden committed these offences while he was at a “low ebb”.
“He was clearly abusing class A drugs and alcohol at the time and to his great credit he has since made efforts to tackle those problems,” Mr Fitt said.
Ben Worden claimed he did not have much memory of the conversations, though this claim was rejected by Judge Ben Gumpert KC.
“I’m quite satisfied from all the evidence that Mr Ben Worden had, and still has, a clear recollection of what he was doing,” Judge Gumpert said.
“He was in full control of his faculties, despite the problems he was having with depression and his abuse of alcohol and drugs.”
THE INSANE Judge Gumpert described Ben Worden as an “intelligent and manipulative person” as he sentenced him to three years and four months in prison.
On his release from prison Ben Worden will be required to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Ben Worden will also be the subject of a sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of the internet.
HOW DO YOU GET 6 YEARS FOR KILLING SOMEONE THEN ONLY AND A HALF FOR CHILD SEX CRIMES? AREN’T YOU SUPPOSED TO GET INCREASING LENGTHS OF PRISON AS A DETERRENT?
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.

