Sexual Elder Abuse on Dying Woman (UK)

Shame of the deathbed rapist

11 February 2009

By Sally Burton, Liam Hoden and Kate Mason

 THREE members of the jury that found sex attacker Brian Frederick Robinson guilty of raping a dying woman, cried openly in court after delivering a unanimous guilty verdict.

They had heard how Robinson's victim was so ill at the time of the attack that she probably would not even have been conscious of the incident.

The three-day trial had heard sickening evidence of how Robinson was caught in the woman's room, next to her bed. His trousers were round his ankles and she was semi-naked.

The jury heard that "significant" amounts of the victim's DNA were found on Robinson's body, and rejected his claim that this must have been transferred when he was changing an incontinence pad.

The court heard that after being suspended from duty at the Hickleton Hall, Robinson had gone home to pack a suitcase – arriving to find the police waiting to arrest him.

He had written a letter to his wife, saying how stupid he had been.

It took the jury just four hours to convict the pervert carer at Doncaster crown Court. 

As the jury members wept, trial Judge David Tremberg told them it had been a "deeply troubling" experience.

Robinson – who had been on bail before the trial – was remanded in custody following the verdict, after the judge said it was appropriate for him to start his sentence immediately.

The court was told the prosecution would apply for a sexual offences prevention order to ensure he never again worked with vulnerable people.

Sentence was adjourned for a month, pending psychological reports. But Paul O'Shea, defending, acknowledged that Robinson knew he was going to prison for "a very long time".

His victim – whom the Times has chosen not to name to spare her family further grief – was a small, frail woman in her 60s.

She was in the later stages of Huntington's disease, and had been at the Hickleton neurological home for a long period.

A spokesman for Sue Ryder Care – which operates the Hickleton Hall home – said the veteran carer had repeatedly passed all the criminal checks to ensure he was fit to work with vulnerable adults. 

But he acknowledged that a determined person could slip through the net.

The spokesman said: "He was clean – there was nothing on his criminal record. 

"But of course just because there's nothing on a criminal record that does not mean that they will not do things. 

RAPISTS in the USA have faced huge jail sentences for rape – with one of 124 years recently recorded.
In Britain, the maximum rape sentence is life – although the average jail term is a little over seven years. Is that a fair punishment for a man like Robinson?
Or should he never be free to walk our streets again? 
You tell us what you think by voting in our online poll which can be found elsewhere on this page or, alternatively, click here to send in a letter to the newspaper. If you prefer you can post your letter to: Letters, Editorial Department, South Yorkshire Times, 27-29 High Street, MEXBOROUGH, South Yorkshire, S64 9AF.

Abridged

SOURCE:    South Yorkshire Times

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