Sex offender taxi driver jailed for rape

Apr 17 2008 icWales

A taxi driver licensed to drive children to school despite having indecent assault convictions was jailed indefinitely today for sexual offences on a young girl.

Robert Wagstaff was 16 when he lured two six-year-old boys to a disused railway line and assaulted them, Cardiff Crown Court heard. He appeared before a juvenile court in July 1984 and was handed a two-year supervision order.

The 40-year-old started working as a taxi driver in the Bridgend area of South Wales in 2003, prosecutor Ieaun Bennett said.

When he applied for a licence, checks revealed his previous convictions.

Mr Bennett said: “It appears that in spite of the check at that stage, he was granted a licence to work as a taxi driver, and took children on school runs.”

At a previous hearing, Wagstaff, of Brynffrwyd, Bryncethin, Bridgend, admitted the new offences – two charges of rape and five of sexual assault on a child under 13, and three of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Judge David Wynn Morgan told Wagstaff there was a “significant risk to the public of serious sexual assault” by him.

He passed an indeterminate sentence for public protection, telling Wagstaff a parole board will not consider his release until he has served four years in custody, minus the 73 days already spent on remand.

Judge Wynn Morgan said Wagstaff had subjected the girl to an “ordeal”, and added: “You have a great deal of work to do before the parole board will be satisfied that you no longer pose a risk,”.

The judge praised the girl’s school for its prompt response after learning of the abuse.

Owen Williams, defending, said his client, who exposed himself to members of the public as a 15-year-old, was “not a dangerous predator” and had expressed remorse.

A spokesman at Munro’s Taxis and Minibus Hire of Aberkenfig, Bridgend, the firm which employed Wagstaff, did not wish to comment today.