Mark Hawkes was convicted of raping a young boy, while serving aa prison term for sexually abusing a young girl
A serial sex offender brutally raped and sexually assaulted a young boy shortly after sexually abusing a young girl, a court has heard. The impact of what Mark Hawkes did to the boy almost two decades ago has been described as “mental torture” of the victim which “almost destroyed” him.
Hawkes – who is currently serving a prison sentence for the sexual abuse of the young girl – denied the offences against the boy but was convicted at trial at Swansea Crown Court this week. He has now been handed a special sentence as an offender of particular concern which he will have to serve after he completes his current sentence.
Ian Wright, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant subjected his young male victim to a “brutal” rape and serious sexual assaults, offending which was accompanied by “intimidation and violence” and threats to kill the boy if he revealed what had happened.
The court heard that in 2021 Hawkes was made the subject of a nine-year sentence comprising eight years in prison followed by a one-year licence period after being convicted at trial of four counts of sexual assault of a girl under 13. The sexual abuse of the girl dates back to the mid-2000s and was committed shortly before the sexual abuse of the boy. All the offending took place in the Neath Port Talbot area.
The court also heard that the sexual abuse of the girl happened shortly after Hawkes had been released on licence from a sentence of two years detention in a young offenders institution for sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter
Mark Anthony Hawkes, aged 39, of no fixed abode, had previously been convicted at trial of rape of a boy under 13 and two counts of sexual assault of a boy under 13 when he returned to the dock for sentencing. As well as his sexual convictions, the defendant has a previous conviction from 2011 for arson for which he was sentenced to 42 months in prison.
Colin McCarraher, for Hawkes, said there was no suggestion of sexual offending since the time period before the court, and said his client was a man “who went completely perverse” in the mid 2000s. He said as was often the way with sexual offending, the defendant’s family had “walked away from him” following his conviction with only a grandfather who occasionally visited him in prison; the barrister said the grandfather – the only family member his client had any kind of relationship with – died earlier this week during the course of the trial.
Mr McCarraher said the defendant had done every course that was available to do in prison and had been an enhanced prisoner for some six years, a role which was “not a key to popularity” amongst fellow inmates.
Recorder Jonathan Rees KC said having presided over the trial and heard the “harrowing” evidence from the victim it was clear that the “brutal” rape and serious sexual assaults carried out by Hawkes had caused the complainant almost two decades of “mental and psychological torture”. He said that in his evidence the victim had told the jury how the abuse had almost “destroyed” him, and he said it was to the complainant’s credit that it had not done so.
Hawkes was given a 16-year sentence as an offender of particular concern comprising 15 years in prison followed by a mandatory one-year licence period. The sentence will run consecutively to the one he is currently serving. The defendant can apply to be released after serving two-thirds of the custodial element of the new sentence but it will be for the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be let out.
Recorder Rees said the effect of the sentence he had just imposed was that the effective total sentence imposed on Hawkes since 2021 was one of 24 years in prison followed by two years on extended licence.
The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, and was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order to control his access to children.
