Jamie Roberts (Jamie Whelan) 37

Description

A sex offender was found hiding a boy and a girl who were from children's homes in a wardrobe in his bedroom. Just weeks after police made the shocking discovery, Jamie Roberts took two boys - again vulnerable teens living in care - back to his house where they drank alcohol and took drugs - and he suggested getting amphetamine as it "makes you really horny".

Roberts, who also goes by the name Jamie Whelan, is currently subject to a sexual harm prevention order after being convicted of child abduction.

Swansea Crown Court heard that early in the morning of December 21 last year police in Swansea were notified that two teenagers - a girl and a boy - had failed to return home to their respective care homes by the allotted curfew times the previous night. Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said the police investigation led to Roberts' flat in Skewen, and at 3.40am officers knocked on his door. The court heard the lights were on in the property but the officers' knocks went unanswered, though they noticed the blinds in a window were twitching. Officers kept knocking and eventually Roberts answered - despite being fully clothed he told his callers he had been asleep.

The house was searched and it initially appeared Roberts was alone. However, officers noticed a big pile of bedding and clothes stacked up in front of a wardrobe in one of the bedrooms. And when officers moved the items, and opened the wardrobe, they found the missing children hiding inside. The teenagers were returned to their care homes and Roberts was arrested. In his subsequent interview the 35-year-old defendant provided a prepared statement in which he said the children had asked him to hide them, and that they had taken cocaine and amphetamine. After being questioned Roberts was released under investigation.

The court heard the second incident happened on February 28 this year and involved the same teen boy along with another male youth who was also living in care. The prosecutor said on this occasion Roberts met the boys at Swansea railway station and took them back to his home in Skewen. During the evening the trio drank alcohol and the two teens smoked cannabis, and Roberts suggested getting amphetamine as it "makes you really horny". At around 4am an argument broke out and Roberts chased the boys from his flat - apparently at knife-point. One boy rang his care home and a member of staff drove to Skewen to collect him. Roberts was again arrested and admitted arranging to pick up one of the boys from the station - but said he had been surprised to find the youngster was not alone.

Jamie Paul Roberts, of New Road, Skewen, Neath, had previously pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 19 previous convictions for 22 offences including a number for sexual offences beginning with the indecent assault of a girl when he was a juvenile - this involved him assaulting a girl in public toilets on a beach. In 2005 he was convicted at Swansea Crown Court of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, and convicted of the same offence two years later at Stratford Crown Court. However, the court did not hear details of these breaches.

In 2021 he was sentenced to a two-year community order for child abduction - this offence involved a young boy staying in his property in defiance of a child abduction warning notice issued by police following concerns raised by the boy's dad about the nature of the defendant's relationship with his son.

Ian Ibrahim, for Roberts, said the defendant's childhood had been "nothing short of a disaster for him". He said Roberts was taken into care at the age of four and put on anti-psychotic drugs because of his behaviour, and that was followed by a period of living with 10 different foster families and in five foster homes, as well as being bullied at school. The barrister said the defendant had subsequently been diagnosed with a number of conditions including personality disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. Mr Ibrahim said Roberts had been the victim of a serious assault in Cardiff's Bute Park - the same area where Dr Gary Jenkins was murdered in a homophobic attack - and had also been the victim of so-called cuckooing when a drugs-gang took over his Neath flat.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said he had no doubt Roberts' contact with the young children from care homes had been sexually-motivated grooming behaviour. He said it was clear the defendant posed a risk of serious harm to children but said it was not possible to pass an extended sentence for the offences currently before the court.

With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas Roberts was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for breaching the sexual harm prevention order, and the judge re-sentenced the defendant for the previous child abduction offence imposing a six month sentence for that to run consecutively, making an overall sentence of four years in prison. Roberts will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.