A man from Bishop’s Stortford who dressed as a woman to abuse a drunken young man was told after being found guilty on Wednesday (September 6) he is a “sexual predator of the worst kind”.
Wayne Rogers, 47, was wearing a wig and fake breasts when he picked up the 20-year-old victim, who was “absolutely hammered” having spent the evening out in Stortford.
Rogers, of Plaw Hatch Close, was accused of five offences against the man in the early hours of Sunday September 11 last year.
He pleaded not guilty to assault by penetration, two offences of sexual assault and two of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
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The jury of eight women and four men at St Albans Crown Court convicted him unanimously of all the charges.
Last year, at the same court, Rogers was cleared by THREE different juries of offences against other men.
While dressed as a woman he was accused of performing oral sex on a drunken worker who had been to his firm’s Christmas party. He was found not guilty of sexual assault.
At the end of a second trial, Rogers was found not guilty of causing a second man, who thought he was a woman, to engage in sexual activity without consent.
And a third jury cleared him of coercive control in an intimate or family relationship with anther man.
On Wednesday, Judge Sandeep Kainth remanded Rogers in custody for the probation service to prepare a report on the danger he poses. Sentence was adjourned until December 22.
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Judge Kainth told him: “The jury saw through the defence you presented. It was complete and utter rubbish.”
He told Rogers, who did not give evidence, that his jail sentence would be “measured in years”. He said: “You have ruined this young boy’s life. You are a sexual predator of the worst kind.”
Prosecutor Mark Trafford KC said: “He [Rogers] preys at night and in the early hours of the morning on young men. He goes out in his car and he picks on and picks up drunken young men he finds in and around Bishop’s Stortford and he abuses them.
“He only picks on the very drunk. The complainant in this case was very drunk. He picked on him because he was absolutely hammered.”
Opening the case last week, Mr Trafford said that Rogers was dressed in court in a sensible grey sweater and trousers but in the early hours of last September 11 he was “dressed up as a woman with a wig and with breast replacements”.
Referring to the sexual assault on the man after his Christmas party, the prosecutor said that over two years earlier Rogers had found him drunk in Stortford town centre and had sexual activity with him.
“He goes out for all intents and purposes dressed as and looking like a woman,” said Mr Trafford. “He finds his drunk young man and goes to an out-of-the-way place where he engages in abuse – sexual contact with young men away from prying eyes.
“He is a sexual predator that picks on drunk men and deceives them by being dressed as a woman.”
Mr Trafford said that last September the 20-year-old complainant had got very drunk, having consumed wine, gin, Prosecco and vodka over a five-hour period in JD Wetherspoon pub The Port Jackson and Bacchus nightclub.
After walking a woman friend from Bacchus to a spot where she was safely collected by her father, he was alone in the town centre, where he fell over a couple of times.
Rogers, dressed as a woman, stopped nearby and led him to his car.
The prosecutor said: “He got into the car, was driven a short distance away and was sexually assaulted.
“All he remembers is that he knew he was in the car. He knew not where – he thought it was a dimly-lit car park. Through the fog of alcohol he recalls being sexually assaulted in the car park and then somewhere else out of the way.
“It was without any consent whatsoever. It was degrading, and he was left at 5am in the morning somewhere. He woke up on a patch of grass.”
In a recorded interview with police, the victim said: “I can’t recall very much. My body just shut down.”
He told his father he had been assaulted when they drove into the town the next day to look for his phone. The next day he was taken to a sexual assault referral centre.
Mr Trafford said the man told the nurse that the person who assaulted him had a deep and distinctive voice.
Rogers was arrested on November 4 last year at his home. Police found two blonde wigs and a pair of fake breasts under his bed.
Rogers claimed the complainant had offered to give him oral sex for a lift home. He said the 20-year-old had initiated the sexual activity.
When police examined Rogers’ phone they found an image of the complainant sitting motionless, wearing just white socks, while the defendant was trying to masturbate him.
Mr Trafford said the internet search history on Rogers’ phone was “compelling”. Search terms used included: “Drunk friend f******” , “F****** drunk sleeping friend,” “Drunk guy getting f*****” and “Sleeping drunk gay friend f*****”.
