Robert Evans 58

Description

A convicted paedophile sexually assaulted a young boy despite being barred from having contact with children. Following his arrest, he told his supervising officer "Sorry, this is the only one".

Robert Evans, 58, of Cardiff, carried out horrendous sexual acts against his victim, which started when he was just eight years old. The victim described his memories of the abuse being "burned onto his mind".

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday heard Evans was subject to a lifelong sex offender notification requirements, after he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in 1998. He was convicted of buggery of a boy under 16, gross indecency, rape of a boy under 16, and indecent assault of a boy under 16. These offences were carried out against six victims.

Despite being barred from having contact with children under 18 years old, Evans came into contact with his victim and sexually abused him on a number of occasions. The abuse came to light after the victim told his mother, and was interviewed by police.

The victim told police Evans had asked him to perform a sex act on him. He said he was scared and did as the defendant instructed. He said Evans touched him and tried to rape him. He also described being orally raped by the defendant. A few weeks after that, Evans showed the victim pornography and again sexually assaulted him.

At the time of the offences, the victim said he had not received sex education, and it was only later he realised what Evans did to him was wrong. Describing the impact the abuse had on him, the victim described it as being "burned on his mind". He added: "I do not like being touched and became violent when being touched by partners growing up. It has deprived me of getting to know people or have relationships. It has created a barrier, has ruined friendships and relationships. I want to put it to the back of my mind and bury it."

Evans was arrested and upon being taken to custody, he saw his sex offender supervising officer. He said to the officer: "Sorry, this is the only one." The defendant told the officer he thought he could "trust himself" and would "go guilty". He added: "I knew this was coming, I have been waiting for this day for a long time now."

The defendant went on to make further admissions in his police interview, and spoke about incidents which the victim had not previously mentioned but denied being a "violent person". He admitted performing oral sex upon the victim and "simulated sex" with him, but denied other offences. Evans admitted masturbating when he showed pornography to the victim and said there were also a number of incidents when he sexually assaulted the victim by touching. The defendant said: "I can't give you an exact figure, I can't remember."

Evans, of Mill Road, Ely, later pleaded guilty to rape of a child, three counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, causing a child to watch a sexual act, and breach of sex offenders' notification requirements.

In mitigation, Dan Jones said his client had not sought to minimise his offences, and has expressed cooperation to work with the probation service. He said the defendant had expressed remorse and apologised. Evans has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and high blood pressure, and Mr Jones argued the defendant could be dealt with by a determinate prison sentence, rather than an extended sentence on account of dangerousness.

Sentencing, Judge Paul Hobson said: "You groomed this young boy. You were to admit you were coaxing (the victim) but that is the wrong word. What you were doing in fact was sexually abusing him and exploiting him. You were the adult and all he did or was prepared to do was due to your malign influence on him... Your sexual interest in male children is a long term interest and has continued well into your middle age. Although you admitted your (previous) offending, that did not stop you from returning to abusing a young child."

Evans was sentenced to 12 years and eight months imprisonment, with an extended licence period of eight years. He will serve two thirds of the sentence before he will be eligible for parole. The defendant was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely.