Jail for serial sex offender

Justice finally caught up with a West Berkshire man last Friday - 28 years after he attacked a woman in Basingstoke

A SERIAL sex offender from West Berkshire who smashed a woman's jaw while trying to rape her has finally been jailed - 28 years later.

Justice finally caught up with perverted Charles Roy Heaver - now aged 71 - for dragging his terrified victim to a secluded spot and battering her before committing a serious sexual offence.

Winchester Crown Court heard on Friday how “vicious, violent and depraved” Heaver, of Inkpen Road, Kintbury, was given a false alibi by his then wife, who he also brutalised, thereby helping him to carry on abusing women for years.

The court was told of Heaver's criminal career which spanned five decades and which saw his last court appearance before Newbury magistrates in July where he was convicted of kicking his current wife between the legs, the judge was told.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, said the net finally closed on Heaver when Hampshire Constabulary reviewed a number of rape cases using advanced DNA technology unavailable when he attacked his 22-year-old victim on February 15, 1982.

Miss Maylin said the victim was walking to The Bounty pub in Basingstoke when Heaver - using a bizarre ‘calling card' that linked him to many other sex crimes - approached her and warned: “I wouldn't go that way, love......a girl just got raped.”

Miss Maylin said the woman enjoyed a night out with friends, putting the strange encounter to the back of her mind before walking towards home around 10.40pm.

She added: “What happened when she entered the footpath to where the woods began continues to affect her to this day. She was grabbed from behind with a hand over her mouth and dragged by the waist to a wooded area.”

She was forced, face down, over a tree trunk where Heaver banged her head against the wood with such force that her jaw was shattered in two places and her teeth were knocked out, said Miss Maylin.

However, the court heard, the woman continued screaming as Heaver forced himself on her despite being unable to complete the act.

Her cries alerted nearby residents who discovered her, half-naked, bloody, battered and hysterically screaming “rape,” said Miss Maylin.

The woman was hospitalised, her jaw was wired shut for six weeks and she endured a liquid-only diet while her injuries healed.

Miss Maylin said: “Mr Heaver was arrested and questioned but denied being responsible. At the time he was given an alibi by his wife and there was insufficient evidence in 1982 to prove he was the perpetrator.

“She subsequently made it clear she was in a domestically abusive relationship with Mr Heaver.”

His victim still has nightmares, the court heard.

Even after advances in DNA technology suggested there was only a billion-to-one chance that someone else had attacked the woman, Heaver continued to deny it, claiming his victim consented and only changed his plea to guilty on the day his trial was due to start last December.

Abigail Husbands, mitigating, asked the judge to read pre-sentence reports and pointed out that although he knew his victim had been reluctant to testify, Heaver had pleaded guilty, sparing her the ordeal of giving evidence.

She added: “He is not in good health - he suffers from heart and lung disease, bi-polar and Parkinson's Disease. I would ask that you give him a prospect of release.”

Heaver was jailed for six years and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

See the Newbury Weekly News today (Thursday) for more on this story.