Wayne Rogers 48

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A male predator who dressed as a woman to sexually abuse a 20-year-old man in Bishop’s Stortford was jailed for 10 years on Tuesday (May 28).

Wayne Rogers, now 48, was wearing a wig and fake breasts when he picked up the victim, who was “absolutely hammered” having spent the evening in the town centre.

Rogers, a bald hairdresser, led him to his car and drove him a short distance before stopping to carry out the attack, part of which he videoed.

He appeared for sentence at St Albans Crown Court having been convicted by a jury last September of assault by penetration, two offences of sexual assault and two offences of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

Judge Francis Sheridan told Rogers: “He was chosen by you because he was intoxicated and you could see he was intoxicated. You could see he was vulnerable.

“You sexually abused him for your own sexual excitement and satisfaction.”

In 2022, Rogers, of Plaw Hatch Close, Bishop’s Stortford, had appeared at the same court before a different judge for three separate trials in which he was accused of offences against other men.

While dressed as a woman he was said to have performed oral sex on a drunken worker who had been to his firm’s Christmas party in December 2019.

The man had left a pub and was guided into an alleyway by a person with long fingernails, who was wearing perfume. He was spun around before being attacked. Rogers, who said the activity was consensual, was found not guilty of sexual assault.

At the end of a second trial, Rogers was found not guilty of causing a second man, who thought he was a woman, to engage in sexual activity without consent. That was between May 2018 and April 2020.

Rogers said he met the man every couple of weeks on a Friday or Saturday in a field or a car park. The complainant believed he was having sexual activity with a woman.

A third jury cleared him of coercive control in an intimate or family relationship with another man between January and July 2016.

Three months after his third acquittal, Rogers preyed on the 20-year-old in the early hours of Sunday September 11, 2022.

At the trial which followed, prosecutor Mark Trafford KC said: “He goes out for all intents and purposes dressed as, and looking like, a woman, with a wig and with breast replacements.

“He finds his drunk young man and goes to an out-of-the-way place where he engages in abuse – sexual contact with the young man, away from prying eyes.

“He is a sexual predator that picks on drunken men and deceives them by being dressed as a woman.

“The complainant in this case was very drunk. He [Rogers] picked on him because he was absolutely hammered.”

Mr Trafford said the victim had drunkwine, gin, Prosecco and vodka over five hours. He had been to JD Wetherspoon’s Port Jackson pub before moving on to Bacchus nightclub.

He had escorted a woman friend to a car, where she was picked up and taken home. He had fallen over a couple of times in the town centre when Rogers, dressed as a woman, spotted him and led him to his car.

The prosecutor went on: “He got into the car, was driven a short distance away and was sexually assaulted. Through the fog of alcohol, he recalls being sexually assaulted in the car park and then somewhere else out of the way.

“It was without any consent whatsoever. It was degrading and he was left at 5am in the morning somewhere. He woke up on a patch of grass.”

He told his father, when they drove into the town the next day to look for his phone, he had been assaulted. He was taken to a sexual assault referral centre.

Mr Trafford said the man told the nurse that he remembered the person who assaulted him had a deep and distinctive voice.

In a personal statement, the victim said: “When I am not distracted and am alone with my thoughts, I feel sad or numb.”

Rogers was arrested on November 4, 2022. At his home, police found two blonde wigs and a pair of fake breasts under his bed.

A police dog alerted its handler to the headboard of Rogers’ bed. Inside there was a mobile phone.

When it was examined, officers found an image of the victim sitting motionless, wearing just white socks, while the defendant fondled him.

Internet search history on Rogers’ phone included search terms such as: “Drunk friend f…….”, “F…… drunk sleeping friend,” “Drunk guy getting f……” and “Sleeping drunk gay friend f…..”

Defending Alexander Wright, said: “He had a hairdresser shop and then [worked] as a mobile hairdresser.”

Mr Wright said that in his previous trials, Rogers had described himself as being “like a woman trapped in a man’s body”.

Judge Sheridan told Rogers: “This young man was a complete and utter innocent and a complete stranger.

“He was an easy prey for you. There was a degree of planning. You went out dressed with your fake breasts and wig.”

Rogers must register as a sex offender for life and must abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order.