Five Worcester men found guilty of sexually assaulting women

PERVERT: Julian Tansell, , sexually assaulted a woman

Julian Tansell, 50, was given a 12-month community order and placed on the sex offenders register for five years on February 18 2020 after The Network Rail employee was found guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague causing her a “severe psychological harm”.

Prosecuting at Worcester Magistrates Court, Ralph Robyns- Landricombe said: “On Wednesday March 22 the victim was visited by her line manager. Alleged at the time by the victim, he approached her, put out his arms, put them around her shoulders and back and put his face close to her. The touching was not consensual. She did not hug the defendant back. He then asked her to sit next to him on the sofa. He shuffled up close to her and said ‘what’s that perfume? You smell good enough to eat.’ He placed his face against her, again the touching was not consensual.”

The court heard the next day the victim went to work with a recording device to record Tansell, of Bishops Avenue, Worcester.

Mr Robyns- Landricombe said: “He approached her from behind and held her close to him. He nuzzled his face into her and said ‘what do you wear? Cor, I could sniff you all day.’ He continued to make inappropriate sexual innuendos.”

A statement from the victim said: “As I stated, this happened nearly two years ago, and I have not been given the opportunity to have closure. I have been living with this every day while the investigation has been going on.”

“When this happened, I had been in an altercation with another member of staff and I was shaken and vulnerable. Tansell saw me in that state and targeted me. I felt used, isolated and prayed upon.”

“I now ask my husband what I look like before leaving the house, I wouldn’t do this before, because I don’t want to invite any comments.”

The statement continued saying the incident has affected the victim’s marriage and her self-esteem.

Magistrate, Fiona James said: “We have to commend her for what would have been a very difficult document to write. It is clear the offence was aggravated by causing her severe psychological harm. The impact on her was lasting and profound. It was degrading and humiliating.”

JAILED: Keith Brown, 56, raped an 83 year old woman

Keith Brown, 56, was jailed for 10 years and eight months at Worcester Crown Court on December 15 2020. The dangerous drug-addict burglar broke into the home of the 83-year-old in a remote rural location in Worcestershire, and raped her on her bed.

Rachel Brand QC, prosecuting, said at a later stage the defendant, upon being asked why he had carried out the attack upon her, said: “I wanted sex that night and I went into her home because there would be no men or anyone else living there that would prevent me doing what I wanted to do.”

The baker, who worked in Tewkesbury, drove to her home when he finished work, clocking off at 11.17pm, lying to his long-term partner over the phone, saying he was driving on the motorway and that he may be a while because of flash floods.

His partner later said he sounded ‘a bit funny on the phone’ and thought he had been drinking. Before the attack Brown turned off his mobile phone.

Brown gained entry to the victim’s home via downstairs window either to the kitchen or the larder.

The victim had been asleep and, seeing a light, believed it may have been lightning because of inclement weather at the time, but when she sat up in bed saw the defendant in her room holding a torch.

Brown said to her: “Hello, I found you. I knew you would be here.”

The woman asked him ‘who on earth are you?’ and what he was doing in her home. But the defendant addressed her by name in what sentencing judge, James Burbidge QC, said must have been ‘chilling’ for her. She still had no idea who he was yet he had remembered her from a previous meeting years before when he had been a causal labourer.

“The defendant got onto the bed and commenced a sexual attack upon her” said Miss Brand. The defendant put his hands under her nightie and pulled down his own trousers. The victim decided not to fight off her attacker ‘because she genuinely feared for her life’ said Miss Brand.

The woman, who had lived at the house for more than 50 years, also tried to talk to him in a reasonable manner. When she asked him his name he told her it was ‘Stephen’. When she asked him if he had a wife he replied he did but then changed his account and said he did not.

At one point he put his hands on her neck. When she told him to stop he did so, telling her he did not want to hurt her. Miss Brand said: “He told her she was sweet and lovely. He also suggested to her that he might return again on the following day.”

In a decision that the judge said was both courageous and showed great presence of mind the woman fled the house wearing only her night clothes, her rationale being that she knew the house and the lie of the land better than her attacker and would have that advantage in the dark.

She hid in an overgrown part of the garden as she watched the defendant switching on lights in her home. She was able to alert her neighbours at around 3am, telling them there was a man in her house.

Police were called and a police dog was also deployed. Brown was found in his Honda Accord on a track just 100 metres from her home. He had trailed muddy footprints through the house and forensics found his DNA on a face mask and cigarette butts he had dropped in the bedroom.

The woman suffered a cut to her mouth and an injury to her private parts during the attack itself and also sustained scratches to her legs which may have been sustained while she hid in the overgrown part of her garden.

Brown answered ‘no comment’ in interview but on the evening of August 15, made an unsolicited comment as he was being taken back to his cell. He first asked a police officer if he would be able to enter a plea when he appeared at court on Monday and added: “Because I’m going to plead guilty. You can tell her that I’m going to plead guilty. I will explain it in court.” He also agreed to answer questions put to him by the victim when they were repeated to him by police. She wanted to ask him ‘why her’ and he responded: “I went there because I knew there were no men to prevent me doing what I wanted to do.”

Brown, a convicted burglar and thief, said he had not been watching the house. He told officers he was ashamed of what he had done and that he was sorry. The defendant had also been reported to police for making sexual advances towards another woman the previous year but no further action was taken.

In a victim personal statement the woman who was attacked said she felt like she was ‘living in a daze every day, wondering ‘did it really happen to me and why me?’” She described how she would wake up ‘terrified and reliving seeing a man in my bedroom’. “This still haunts me” she said. She never used to fear the dark but now is frightened to go out on her own. The woman, described as both independent and self-reliant, has been supported throughout by ‘wonderful friends’, some of whom came to court to support her.“I’m determined not to let it ruin the last few years of my life and hopefully get some closure and carry on,” she said.

Judge James Burbidge QC told the defendant: “It was a crime of great wickedness, almost beyond comprehension.” Finding Brown dangerous in law, he described the attack, committed in drink, as being of an ‘evil nature’ and coming ‘out of the blue’.

GUILTY: Paul Wyatt-Davies, 36, attacked a mum with such force she compared the ‘unbearable pain’ to childbirth

Paul Wyatt-Davies, 36, was jailed at Worcester Crown Court on October 15 2019 for a total of three years, after he admitted raping a mum with such force she compared the 'unbearable pain' to childbirth as she begged him again and again to stop.

The rape of the mother happened on March 27 and she gave a video recorded interview to police just three days later on March 30.

The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said in a statement that she awoke to find the defendant having sex with her without her consent.

"I asked him to stop. He would not," she said.

Giles Nelson, prosecuting, said the victim told police she had asked Wyatt-Davies to stop three times and also told him he was hurting her. But he 'didn't at any stage stop' she said.

After the rape, the victim stated 'she was scared and in a state of shock', estimating the 'really forceful' attack lasted four minutes. An empty packet of Viagra was later found discarded in a kitchen bin.

Mr Nelson added: "She described the pain as unbearable, described it as like childbirth pain."

He later apologised to the victim and admitted the rape as soon as he was arrested. Asked why he had done it he said: "I just wanted it."

Wyatt-Davies told police he had drunk a bottle of wine before the attack. Afterwards he told them he thought: "What have I done?"

In a victim personal statement, summarised by Mr Nelson, the victim said she had suffered with extreme anxiety and no longer liked leaving the house. She also said she felt 'worried and paranoid' after the attack, referring to herself as feeling 'desperately unhappy'.

The physical pain following the rape lasted a week.

Richard Hull, defending, said the defendant was supported by his parents who were in the public gallery.

He said Wyatt-Davies had accepted responsibility for his actions and asked if the judge would consider coming down from the five year starting point given the 'peculiarities around the offence'.

"He attends court in full anticipation of a custodial sentence" said Mr Hull.

Judge Robert Juckes QC said Wyatt-Davies had admitted the offence from the outset but his initial response when confronted with what he had done had been an 'aggressive one', the defendant saying: "I wanted it so I took it."

However, he said: "Thereafter your position has been contrite. You have expressed your regret. You have given apologies. I have no hesitation at all in saying you are genuinely remorseful."

But he said the rape had been 'a serious sexual attack' and had to be dealt with by way of a custodial sentence.

"This is the most serious form of sexual attack" the judge said. The range available to the judge within the sentencing guidelines was a a custodial sentence of between four and seven years and a starting point of five years in prison.

He told the defendant she had told him to stop and added: "You wouldn't. She was badly hurt and it went on for a long time and she suffered the consequences of that physically for one week and, emotionally and psychologically, she still suffers."

The judge was able to come down from the five year starting point to 40 months in prison, reflecting the defendant's early guilty plea. He said he was able to reduce it still further to reflect other mitigating factors, including the defendant's previous good character.

RAPE: Daniel Edwards, 29, attacked a sleeping woman

Daniel Edwards, 29, was jailed for six and a half years at Worcester Crown Court on January 31 2020. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting a grandmother using his fingers whilst she was asleep in her bed. The victim sleeps on the sofa of her home because she cannot bear to sleep on the same bed where she was assaulted.

In the summer of 2013 the woman woke up to discover Edwards, who was 'half-naked', sexually assaulting her using his fingers.

To begin with she thought she was having a 'bad dream' and then feared she was going to be strangled.

In his closing speech Adam Western, for Edwards, had tried to suggest to the jury that the sexual assault was 'a vivid dream, perhaps brought on by a cocktail of cider, Bacardi and Valium' but in the end the jury believed her and not him.

When she woke up the victim swore, asked Edwards what he was doing and told him to get out of her house. Edwards had denied any assault took place, claiming he only shook her to wake her and was simply looking for somewhere to stay because he was locked out of his home.

The same woman had previously told Edwards she was 'old enough to be his mum' as she rebuffed him.

The court heard how Edwards was punched in the face and suffered two black eyes after allegations came to light.

Judge Nicholas Cole said: "She was fast asleep. Having entered her bedroom, you decided to assault her sexually."

The assault took place despite the woman wearing pyjamas, cycling shorts and sanitary products, the judge said.

Judge Cole added: "She initially did not know what was happening. She had to summon the courage to turn around because you were behind her in the bed.

"The effect on her has been ongoing. She has described not being able to sleep at night and that is understandable given that you invaded the sanctity of not only her home but her bedroom late at night."

The judge said the offence was aggravated because it was committed in the early hours of the morning and by the fact that Edwards had been drinking.

However, he balanced this against the defendant's relative youth at the time of the offence and his lack of previous convictions.

The judge jailed him for six years, half of which he can expect to serve in custody and the remaining half on licence in the community.

As a convicted sex offender Edwards is subject to notification requirements for an indefinite period. This means he must inform police of any change of name or address and is also barred from working with children or other vulnerable people.

Speaking after the hearing, the victim, aged in her 40s, said she had wanted an apology from Edwards but had never received one.

To her this suggested Edwards had 'no conscience' about what he had done to her. If he had apologised she said she would have told him to 'get help'.

The woman, who declined the use of a screen when she gave evidence during the trial, said: "I'm still sad. I take no pleasure from this. It's a whole sad scenario for him (Edwards) and his daughter."

But the grandmother also spoke of the impact on her and her family. Her daughter would not let the victim's grandchild come to the house because of what had happened there.

"She did not think it was safe" said the victim.

The woman, who cannot be identified, often sleeps on the sofa of her home because she cannot bear to sleep on the same bed where she was assaulted, has suffered mental health problems, has to see a psychiatrist and has been prescribed antidepressants.

Fighting back tears, she said she hoped the verdict could begin to bring her closure. She said: "I still can't believe it's real."

Speaking of Edwards she said: "He's a sexual predator. I think women are safer now."

She also wished to thank West Mercia Police and her friends who had supported every day at court.

"They have been my rock. I could not have done it without them," she said.

TEACHER: c, was jailed for raping a vulnerable woman

Michael Leydon, 61, a former teacher at Nunnery Wood High School, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison at Worcester Crown Court on September 16, 2020, for raping a woman in 2014.

The history teacher’s career came to an end in 2017 when he retired to contest the allegations.

But, a jury decided by majority verdict that he carried out the rape in 2014, holding the woman down by the shoulders and leaving bruises.

Judge Burbidge said of the rape: “She tried to push you away and said ‘no’ to you. It’s difficult to comprehend why you did that and I do not seek to do that.”

The prosecution case was that Leydon’s texts to the victim referred to the rape, including one in which he says his actions were ‘totally disgusting’ and ‘the result of drink tablets, and stress’.

In another message he wrote: “I’m sorry for what I did to you – you know I will never do it again.”

In one text he wrote: “What I did to you was my fault, albeit I did it on a cocktail of alcohol, sexual frustration and depression.”

In a victim impact statement, the woman, described by the judge as ‘troubled’, said she had suffered PTSD and had lost her confidence and self-worth in the wake of the rape.

She also said she suffered when the trial had to be adjourned in March due to Covid-19. “I thought it was never going to end,” she said.

The former school governor must sign the sex offender register for life. He must serve half the sentence in custody and half on licence.

As previously reported, the jury spent 11 hours and 8 minutes deliberating over three days when they returned a guilty verdict by a majority of 11 to one at Worcester Crown Court on August 19.

The case was adjourned by the judge after the verdict to allow the defendant to prepare for prison and put his affairs in order.

The jury had heard that the defendant stood by his son Christopher Leydon who was convicted of raping a boy under 13 and other sexual offences against the child in 2017. The judge accepted this had placed stress upon Michael Leydon.

The father-of-three was a teacher at Nunnery Wood High School between 1983 and 1989 but had also taught at schools in Redditch and Hereford.

Robert Tolhurst, defending Leydon, said: “It’s clearly a terrible, terrible act but it was a mistake at a time he was suffering with depression and monitoring the progress of his son’s case through the courts.”

The defendant suffers from depression, dyspraxia and macular degeneration which the barrister said was likely to deteriorate further while he is in prison without the same access to treatment.

The judge said the defendant’s behaviour during the rape was ‘quite different to how you conducted yourself throughout your life’.

He read 14 references supplied by his wife, children and former colleagues and the judge described him as a man of previous ‘exemplary good character’.

Judge Burbidge said: “It’s possible that night you consumed alcohol. That cannot explain the nature of the act let alone excuse it.”

He said of the texts he sent to his victim: “They appear to be an expression of regret and also you trying to comprehend why you did what you did because it was beyond comprehension.”

Referring to the victim, who had made attempts on her own life and suffered mental health problems, he said: “She was particularly vulnerable.”

However, he said: “You are not a controlling or predatory man.”