Former MasterChef Australia finalist sentenced to 24 years in jail

Former MasterChef Australia finalist Paul Douglas Frost has been sentenced to 24 years in prison on charges of sexual abuse of minors.

The verdict was delivered by Judge Sarah Huggett at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on last week, and came more than four years after Frost’s arrest in September 2019 in Sylvania, via News.com.au.

Frost, 47, who was also a swimming coach, had previously pleaded not guilty to numerous charges related to 11 complainants, all of whom were former students, during the 1990s and 2000s.

However, in the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney, a jury unanimously found Frost guilty of all 43 charges listed in the indictment.

The ex-participant of the popular cooking show had abused 10 boys and one girl while he was in his 20s. His youngest victim was nine or 10 years old when the abuse began, while the oldest was molested until the age of 16.

Judge Huggett stated that Frost had shown no remorse for his actions, dismissing character references that portrayed him as a protector of young people.

“There is no evidence that would permit me to find on balance that he is contrite or remorseful,” she remarked.