Judge’s outrage over rapist who was given day release ... only to strike again
A SERIAL rapist who attacked a fifth victim while on day release should never have been moved to an open jail, a judge said yesterday.
Alan Wilmot raped a 27-year- old woman in her home at knifepoint, after posing as his fireman nephew to send her sexually- charged text messages from behind bars.
The 20- stone sex attacker, who was already serving life for past crimes, went to his victim’s home armed with rope and a knife hidden in a rucksack.
He stripped down to his prison issue blue boxer shorts, before raping the bound women in front of her close friend, who he also tied up and forced to watch.
Last night as Wilmot, 49, was warned he could be given another life sentence, the 24-year-old friend of his latest victim told the Mail of her anger at the decision to grant the sex offender day release.
The care worker said: ‘They let him out to roam around my town to rehabilitate him, but you can’t rehabilitate people like that.’
Wilmot, who had bragged of links with the notorious Adams crime family in North London, was yesterday convicted of ten charges, including rape and threats to kill, after a trial at Lincoln Crown Court.
Judge John Pini QC ordered an investigation into the decision to move him to open conditions. The judge said: ‘In my view he is a deeply manipulative prisoner. If he has hoodwinked the Parole Board I am greatly concerned.
‘I am very concerned as to how anybody could ever have thought it was safe to release him, but they did.’ He adjourned sentence until later this month.
The Parole Board had repeatedly recommended Wilmot’s transfer to an open jail prior to his arrival at North Sea Camp, Lincolnshire, in September 2012 – even though he had previously ‘made liaisons with vulnerable women’ during short spells in open conditions. Past requests were overruled by the Labour and Coalition governments.
The former labourer was jailed for life at the age of 21 in October 1987 for robbing and raping four women in West London. He found his latest victim’s contact details in an online advert she had placed to sell a dog.
Prosecutor Gordon Aspen said Wilmot called the 27-year- old posing as his nephew Richard, known as Rico, in August 2013. The pair exchanged hundreds of messages as Wilmot promised a new life together. The victim looked the real Rico up on Facebook and ‘liked the look of this hunky fireman’, Mr Aspen said.
In September 2013 the victim, accompanied by her friend, agreed to spend the day with Wilmot during one of his three-monthly day releases.
At the 27-year-old’s flat, Wilmot tied the women up and threatened to kill them if they screamed. He denied rape, but did not take the stand at his trial.
A Prison Service spokesman said that the case had led to an overhaul of the system, following which there had been a 39 per cent drop in the number of ‘temporary release failures’.
They added: ‘We remain constantly vigilant and will consider any further changes necessary to protect the public.’
‘He can’t be rehabilitated’