Former magistrate Simon Mitchell Cooper avoids jail for indecently assaulting boys Simon Mitchell Cooper has been handed a wholly suspended sentence. A DISGRACED Victorian magistrate who resigned from the bench after confessing to indecently assaulting two teenage boys has avoided jail. Simon Mitchell Cooper, 56, received a wholly suspended three-year term of imprisonment for his crimes and did not spend any time in custody since being charged in January. Prominent figures within the legal fraternity - including a judge, a magistrate and the chief crown prosecutor - gave supportive character evidence at his plea hearing last week. Cooper pleaded guilty in August to seven counts of indecent assault, which carries a maximum term of five years' jail per charge, dating back to the 1980s. The case was prosecuted by a South Australian barrister and heard by a NSW judge. Cooper, who was appointed as a magistrate in February 2012, was suspended from duties and admitted to a mental health hospital for a week after being charged in January. The County Court heard last week the one-time Cleo Bachelor of the Year nominee could not recall the specific incidents of indecent assault to which he admitted and suffered episodes of depression since he was young. Cooper sighed heavily with relief as Judge Stephen Norrish, a NSW District Court judge, told him the term would be suspended at the beginning of the sentencing hearing. More to come ...