Sex fiend who abducted young girl is sent to jail

Jun 18 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A WEST Lothian lorry driver who abducted and had sex with a 15-year-old girl he met on the Internet has been jailed for five years.

Robert Williams — described by a court as every parent’s worst nightmare — sparked an international manhunt and worldwide publicity after he disappeared with the girl.

He later had sex with her in a London hotel, Grimsby Crown Court heard, after winning her trust when they began speaking in an Internet chatroom.

The court heard Williams, of Whitburn, initially used the name Dave Ingram and pretended he was 19-years-old.

He sent a false photo of himself to the girl.

Their relationship became “more intense” and she started wearing a ring.

Williams later revealed his real name and age, but the girl, of Cleethorpes, seemed “unperturbed by the truth” and continued to have contact with him.

Williams, 49, admitted in the court taking a child under 16 and removing her from her parents without lawful authority, between January 13 and 22.

He also admitted engaging in sexual activity with the girl in London on January 14.

The court heard Williams was on bail at the time of the incident in January this year after a complaint about a similar incident involving another teenage girl.

The court heard Williams was arrested in late 2008 after he met a 16-year-old girl on the Internet and travelled from Scotland to Sussex to meet her, before booking into a hotel where the pair had sex.

He was interviewed and bailed in connection with the incident.

Just weeks later, Williams arranged to meet the “naive” and “vulnerable” teenager in the second case and took her from her home in Lincolnshire on January 14.

Williams and the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, travelled by train from Grimsby to Doncaster and then on to London, where they booked into a hotel room and had unprotected sex twice.

The next day they travelled to France on a ferry from Dover and were found a week after disappearing, on January 21, when they went to the British Consulate in Lille.

Staff at the Consulate contacted police and Williams was arrested and later extradited to the UK.

Judge David Tremberg branded the trip a “hare-brained scheme”.

He said: “It’s clear you caused the complainant real anxiety abroad when she felt trapped and unable to get home – and you clearly didn’t help her.

“Your behaviour triggered a national and international operation to locate the complainant. The complainant felt used and she has been used.”

Sentencing Williams Judge Tremberg described him as a “sexual predator”.

He said the case was “troubling” coming so soon after his previous arrest, even though charges were never brought on that occasion.

Judge David Tremberg said: “The offences on this indictment come just a matter of weeks after you had been bailed in relation to that inquiry.

“You found the experience of that arrest, interview and bailing no deterrent at all to the course that you followed on this indictment, suggesting you went into the matters on this indictment entirely with your eyes open.”

Williams was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life and was banned from working with children for life. He will be on extended licence after his release.