Description
A PERVERTED foster carer was allowed to systematically sexually abuse young girls in his care even after the alarm was raised by a five-year old who had been raped.
Despite the desperate cry for help paedophile Rex Case went on to sexually assault other young girls who lived with him.
Today the 68-year-old, who carried out his depraved abuse over 30 years, is facing spending the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of a catalogue of sickening crimes.
Judge Peter Henry told Case he was devious, manipulative and controlling and his sentence would be a very long one.
Jurors at Southampton Crown Court took just over four hours to return unanimous guilty verdicts on 18 counts of abuse, including indecent assaults and rape.
The case had taken almost two years to come to court but spanned back to the 1980s when Case preyed on his first victim, who was a girl aged 15.
The Daily Echo has sought the consent of each of the five victims and had to make a special application to the judge in order to reveal the full and sickening behaviour of Case.
Today the girls and their families are demanding answers as to why Case was allowed to continue to foster and why social services chiefs in Hampshire and Southampton or police failed to step in to stop him.
During the past two and a half weeks jurors have heard how Case:
- Raped a girl under the age of five.
- Sexually assaulted girls daily, sometimes in their bedrooms or in the bathroom.
- Would sneak into rooms while they were sleeping to touch them.
- Would bathe and dry girls as old as 13, rubbing baby oil and cream on them.
- Would carry out some of his vile acts while his wife Carol watched.
- The sex abuse was carried out mostly in Cases large family home in Holly Hill, Bassett, Southampton, where the couple lived with their son Dean.
Giving evidence in his own defence Case told how he had fostered some 24 boys and girls since qualifying as a foster carer.
But he went on to say he had many more young girls staying in his home 34 in total who included foreign children who had come to Southampton to study.
Bravery of victims
THE depraved actions of Rex Case towards the children he was supposed to be caring for would never have been told in full if it wasnt for the bravery of his victims.
The Daily Echo faced legal constraints which meant we would be unable to identify Case and what he did to the girls he was fostering unless they agreed to partially waive their anonymity. Each of the victims, who are now all over the age of 18, however, agreed to our request in order to ensure that justice was done in the public eye.
The Daily Echo also received the backing of Judge Peter Henry, who listened to an application made by this newspaper in court, to relax the law surrounding anonymity for victims of sexual offences under the Sexual Offences Amendment Act 1992.
The judge ruled that the case was so serious that it was in the public interest that the identity of Case and what he had done to those children should be revealed in full.
Victim One
The court was told how his first victim, who we are referring to as M, was aged 15 and lived with Case between August 1982 and August 1983.
She had already suffered a childhood of sexual abuse but Case took advantage of her while she was drunk sitting on her bed, stroking her and kissing her open mouthed.
Victim Two
His second victim was much younger aged just 20 months when she first lived with Case in June 1995, because he was fostering her mother.
The court was told how the little girl, known as J, grew up being told to call Case grandad.
She would have to watch him having sex with her mother before he began to turn his attention to her.
Jurors were told how Cases wife would sometimes watch as J was abused in her bedroom, where she would be locked in behind a stair gate, and in the bath.
It was so sustained she would be left crying out in pain, being sick and bleeding.
When it was over he would tell her she was dirty and disgusting and when she complained it hurt he would laugh.
Victim Three
Cases third victim, A, was aged four to five when she spent six months living with Case from July 1998, when her mum was too unwell to look after her.
She was scared and felt unsafe living with him and he would tell her she had sexy legs and looked good.
He would make her kiss him on the lips and he would kiss her neck, face and touch her bottom.
In her bedroom he would tickle her and then sexually assault her on her bed and he would dry her and abuse her when she took a shower.
Victim Four
In June 2000 Cases fourth victim, referred to as R, went to stay with him at the age of six. He was her mothers foster carer but was minding her daughter.
She woke on two occasions to find Case who she was made to call grandad sexually assaulting her under the blanket, having pulled her pyjamas down below her knees.
It was only just before R was about to sit her GCSEs in May 2010 that she finally plucked up the courage to tell her mother what had happened.
Victim Five
His final victim, M, was aged 13 and was not being fostered by Case when she first stayed with him in June 2003.
During a holiday in Florida he would sneak into her bedroom and sniff her hair and he sexually assaulted her on the couch.
Back home in Southampton a year later the girl was sexually assaulted by Case every other night and he would tell her it was their special time.
The girl told how she let it continue for five years because she had a younger sister and didnt want it to happen to her.
Case showed no emotion yesterday as he was told he would be remanded in custody until he is sentenced for his crimes.
Judge Henry told him he could not exclude an indeterminate sentence because he had concerns over him posing a danger, particularly to young girls, in the future.
Rex Case the man the jury didnt believe
REX Case began fostering vulnerable children 30 years ago after replying to an advert from Hampshire Social Services who were appealing for more carers.
He and his wife Carol, who met as childhood sweethearts and married in the 1960s, underwent training to deal with children with extreme problem backgrounds.
Despite their 49-year marriage, the court heard that in 1988 Case was having an affair.
They had a child of their own, a son named Dean, who provided them with a grandson. They all lived together at the family home in Holly Hill, Bassett.
Case, who was born on October 30, 1943, has always maintained that the fostering of children was his wifes job he was working in a One Stop warehouse in the security department until he retired at the age of 57.
It was in the early 1980s when the Cases took in their first child, but he went on to foster a total of 24 boys and girls in the years that followed.
A self confessed homophobe of 40 years, Case and his wife also took in respite placements and he told the court that, including foreign students who came to stay with him, a total of 34 girls lived in his home in 35 years.
He told jurors: There were 34 and we are proud of it. They made me feel young.
I enjoyed the children. We had a big house, a big garden, it was fun.
Case has always maintained his innocence and denied ever bathing or helping children with the toilet due to his aversion to bodily fluids.
The court was told Case had numerous previous convictions relating to his younger years, beginning with theft when he was just nine years old when he stole sweets from Woolworths.
He also had convictions for causing criminal damage, burglary with intent to steal, theft of a gun and possession of a weapon in a public place.