Robert Carter’s victim helped track him down after seeing details of another investigation in a different area
Justice finally caught up with a perverted sexual predator – and his many years of freedom came to an abrupt end – when determined amateur detective work by an eagle-eyed victim led to the last pieces of a jigsaw being put into place.
The scent suddenly went cold on sexual abuser Robert Carter after the victim first told the police about what happened to him. There was no date of birth on record to allow the police to trace Carter but a crucial breakthrough came when the tenacious victim spotted details of another investigation into Carter in a different county and asked for the original police inquiries to be reopened, Hull Crown Court heard.
Carter, 70, of Goole, admitted four offences of indecent assault, one of another serious sexual offence, three of making indecent images of children and another offence possessing prohibited images of children. He pleaded guilty on the day of a scheduled trial.
Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, said that, in the late 1970s, when Carter was in his 20s, he was employed as a support worker at an East Yorkshire school. He “formed an attraction” to one of the boys there and “acted on it”.
Carter would get into bed with the lad and “at first, all that would happen would be cuddling,” said Miss Smithies.
After some weeks, it progressed to touching the boy and sexual behaviour. Carter had a flat and sometimes he spent the night with the boy there.
“The defendant would pick him up in his camper van,” said Miss Smithies. “The boy remembers being taken in the camper van on a trip to the Norfolk Broads for a couple of nights.” Sexual activity took place.
The police later became involved and Carter was asked to leave the school. “He moved on to work in a children’s home in Harrogate,” said Miss Smithies. The boy moved to a school in another town. Contact between Carter and the boy continued and Carter turned up at his home.
The boy was out at the time and Carter said that he had come to take him out. The boy later refused to go. On another occasion, Carter took the boy all the way to Harrogate in his camper van. Sexual activity took place but the boy was left “in agony”.
Carter told him that he needed to go to work and he dropped the boy off at the railway station. “It was the middle of winter,” said Miss Smithies. “It took several hours to get the train back” to his home.
In December 2016, the victim noticed press coverage about the school on the internet and, after feeling upset about it, he telephoned, leaving a voice message saying that he had been sexually abused by Carter.
“On hearing that message, a staff member at the school contacted the police and, two days later, a police officer contacted him by phone,” said Miss Smithies. “He gave further details. Efforts were made to trace the defendant.”
There was no date of birth available for Carter from previous records and it was not possible to trace him. The case was closed in 2018 but, after that, Carter featured as a suspect in an investigation by North Yorkshire Police.
The victim came to hear about that and he got back in touch with Humberside Police and suggested that it might be the same person.
“It was established that the Robert Carter that North Yorkshire Police had been speaking to was the same Robert Carter that Humberside Police had been trying to identify,” said Miss Smithies.
“He was arrested on suspicion of these offences on June 5, 2020. There was a search of his home, a house boat moored in Goole.” A laptop was seized and indecent images of children were found.
They included 19 in the most serious Category A, 31 in Category B and 308 in Category C as well as 508 prohibited images of children. “There were a great many more images that were not looked at and categorised,” said Miss Smithies.
During police interview, Carter admitted knowing the boy but he denied any sexual contact between them.
The victim later said: “For 30-odd years, he has made me feel dirty every day. The abuse I suffered completely changed my life. Now that he has pleaded guilty, it has been a big relief. I no longer carry the burden that people did not believe me.”
Benjamin Donnell, mitigating, said that Carter pleaded guilty on the day of a trial. “He accepted that what he did was wrong,” said Mr Donnell. “He did express remorse and shame for his offending behaviour. He expresses his apologies to the complainant but he recognises that this is going to be of little good to him today.
“The defendant recognises that he needs to be punished for his offending and he recognises that the only appropriate punishment in this case is going to be immediate custody. He is remorseful. He is apologetic. He has worked all his life. He is now retired.”
Carter had been dealt with by magistrates in 1973 for an indecent assault matter. He also had a drink-driving conviction and a breach of the peace matter.
Judge Alexander Menary told Carter: “You began to harbour sexual feelings for him. What went on was classic grooming behaviour. This has been a life sentence for him. You took advantage of him for your own sexual gratification. Your offending has had a profound and devastating impact on your victim.”
Carter, who was on bail, was jailed for nine years. A shout exclaiming “I hope you f***ing die in there” came from the public gallery. Carter was given a sexual harm prevention order for life and he must register as a sex offender for life.
Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Rick Brackenbury from Humberside Police’s Protecting Vulnerable People Unit, said: “This has been an extremely lengthy and complex investigation involving cross-border enquiries with colleagues from neighbouring police forces, and it is thanks to the courage, determination and perseverance shown from the victim that we were able to stack up a significant amount of evidence against Carter, ultimately leading him to plead guilty on the first day of trial.
“Carter is a perverse individual who befriended a vulnerable, impressionable child, abusing his position of trust to groom and commit abhorrent sexual offences over a prolonged period of time, all for his own paraphilic tendencies.
“It is never the victim’s fault, and we would strongly appeal for any child who is or has been manipulated into doing something they don’t want to do, or anyone who suspects crimes of this nature are taking place, to please speak to a trusted adult or friend, and report it to us, when you are ready.
“It doesn’t matter if the offences happened five hours or 50 years ago, we take all reports of this nature extremely seriously and will do everything we can to bring individuals like Carter to justice.”