If you touch children, there must be consequences, according to a mother who received a prison sentence for killing a man her kids claimed had mistreated them.

Sarah Sands made the remarks as part of an effort to strengthen regulations around ID checks for paedophiles with convictions.

After her boys claimed that Michael Pleasted had abused them, she was sentenced to prison for stabbing him eight times in 2014.

Later it was discovered that the neighbour, who the locals had assumed to be a kind face on their east London estate, had a long history of heinous acts hidden from them.

The 77-year-old had a history of convictions and had changed his identity from Robin Moult to avoid being discovered.

CCTV footage showed Sands carrying a knife as she made her way to his house, where she informed police that she had gone to confront him but ended up killing him instead.

Her three sons, who are now all young adults, waived their legal right to remain anonymous to discuss what they learned about their mother’s actions and daily life while she served a seven-and-a-half-year jail sentence.

Bradley, who claimed to have been assaulted when he was 12 years old, told the BBC: “I thought hats off.” I won’t argue against it.

When Alfie, then 11 years old, learned of his passing, “it did make us feel safer,” he remembered.

He added: ‘It didn’t slow down the nightmares. But it did give us a sense of security because you didn’t have to walk down the street thinking he was going to come around the corner.’

Twin Reece said it was ‘nice knowing that he was dead’ but said the brothers ‘would often wake up crying [saying] “where’s mum?”’.

2015’s Old Bailey trial resulted in Ms Sands’ manslaughter conviction based on loss of control.

The Court of Appeal increased her sentence after determining that it was too lenient.

She explained how she had cooked for the neighbour and became friendly with him, not knowing of his past or the possibility that he would be grooming her children.

She told BBC Breakfast that if a paedophile touches a child, there must be consequences and that the law should be altered to prevent them from changing their names.

‘And hiding behind name changes… it has to be taken away from them. That right to change their name has to be taken away from them.’

According to Labour MP Sarah Champion, some offenders use name changes to get around criminal record checks that are required for employment, particularly working with children.

She said: ‘Once they have changed their names, they can get a new driving licence and passport in that name. That enables them to get a new DBS check.

‘And we are finding that these people are then going into schools and other places where there are children and vulnerable people and exploiting their positions of trust in the most horrific ways.’

The UK already has strict laws in place to deal with sex offenders living in the community, according to the Home Office, which claimed to have conducted a study of the matter.