by Lynda Roughley
A trained support worker, who tied a mentally impaired woman to his bed and later filmed them having had sexual activity, has been jailed today, Wednesday.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Joseph Shaw, a former soldier from Burtonwood, Warrington, who had been dishonourably discharged from the Army because of his drinking, was a trained residential support worker for young people with mental disorders.
A judge pointed out that Shaw would have known “in an instant” after meeting the woman, then 21 and with the mental age of an eight-year-old, that she had severe learning difficulties.
Shaw, aged 28 of Lydstep Court, Burtonwood, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a woman with a mental disorder impeding choice and was jailed for seven years eight months. He was also ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life and the judge also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Myles Wilson, prosecuting, told the court that Shaw made contact through a dating website with a 30-year-old friend of the victim, who also had learning difficulties, and after WhatsApp chats they had met at his home where they chatted.
He later invited both women to his home to drink beer but after her friend left he tied the victim to his bed. He released her to go to the toilet and then got her to perform a sex act on him.
She went home and told her mum and the police were notified.
Mr Wilson said that when interviewed he admitted what had happened that day in August 2018 and also that he had taken photographs and videos of them touching each other but said he had deleted them.
He said their activity began after they sat on his bed and began kissing each other but would not say who initiated that. “He said he had tied her to bed before untying her to let her use the toilet.”
Mr Wilson said that Shaw went on to say that he had intended having sexual intercourse with her and put on a condom but got the impression she did not want to do it so they both just got dressed.
In an impact statement the victim told how she had suffered from flashbacks and nightmares and would run downstairs crying to her parents.
Her father put a tracker on her phone but she was scared to go out. “She had had boyfriends who had been like friends and did not kiss or do stuff but now doesn’t have boyfriends because of what happened.”
She concluded, “I have all these problems and to make it worse this man did this bad thing to me.”
Judge Andrew Menary, KC, the Recorder of Liverpool, told Shaw, who has no similar convictions, said that the offence involved “sinister” planning and the defendant had hoped that there would be sexual activity. He rejected his explanation that he had simply wanted company.
He said that both he and the author of the probation pre-sentence report both found his explanation for tying up the victim as “utterly incredulous.” He added that the victim “had suffered severe psychological harm.”
The judge added that it was fortunate that at the time of the offence Shaw had only been working as a support worker for a short time “but nonetheless you had had training and knew what the reasons were for what you were doing.”
William Staunton, defending, said that at the time of the offence Shaw had been “in a downward spiral” and had resorted to drink.
He had served with the Army in Belgium but was dishonourably discharged because his drinking got out of control. He had been inspired by his brother who works with vulnerable adults and he trained to work with similar young people.
He had never met the young woman before but accepted he became aware of her impairment. They brought beer with them and he did not ply them with alcohol, said Mr Staunton.
