Attacker targeted elderly
Dec 17 2008 The Journal
A CONVICTED rapist who went on to sexually assault an 81-year-old woman in a night-time raid was branded "evil and dangerous".
Terence Gibbons left his victim fearing she would be raped or killed after confronting her in her sitting room where she had fallen asleep in a chair.
He demanded to know where her money and jewellery were kept, sexually assaulted her and finally left with a warning he would return and burn down her house if she contacted police.
And the burglary came nine hours after he targeted a 91-year-old woman in another raid.
When due to stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday. Gibbons admitted burglary and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
He had previously denied the charges and a trial was aborted part way through earlier this year after he told the court he was too ill to continue.
Gibbons had earlier admitted handling items including jewellery, a nightdress and a cuckoo clock he stole in the raid and which police recovered from behind a bath panel at his home. At a previous hearing he had also admitted burgling the home of a woman of 91 on June 20 – the same day he preyed on the 81-year-old on June 20 this year.
Gibbons, 47, of Saltwell Road, Bensham, Gateshead, was yesterday further remanded in custody after the case was adjourned for probation and psychiatric reports.
He has previous convictions for offences including a rape in 1982.
Speaking after the case, Detective Sergeant Dave Kay described the attack on the 81-year-old as “a heinous crime against a very vulnerable woman in her own home.”
The officer said: “Gibbons is an evil dangerous man. He has never shown any remorse at any stage during the investigation.”
He said the victim was pleased justice had been done.
In a taped interview played to the jury at the earlier trial, the pensioner told how the raider had asked her old she was before sexually assaulting her. The woman said: “I was thinking Oh God, Oh God. I really thought I had had it. At that point I thought he is going to rape me, assault me or kill me."
The pensioner said Gibbons finally left after warning her: "If you call the police, I'll come back and burn your house down."
She said she had been in such a state of shock after her ordeal, she coped by making herself a cup of tea and falling asleep for several hours before finally making contact with a friend.
The pensioner, who lives in Gateshead, had failed to pick Gibbons out on a police identity procedure, but her detailed description of the intruder matched his profile and proved crucial in bringing about his arrest.
Adjourning sentence for eight weeks for reports, Judge Brian Forster told Gibbons: “Clearly you have pleaded guilty to serious offences and it will be necessary for me to have all the relevant information before I can decide on the form of sentence or length of sentence.”
He could be jailed indefinitely for public protection.
