Cardiff man handed supervision order for rape of girl in 1977

A 73-year-old man who raped a young girl in the 1970s has been given a supervision order after he was deemed mentally unfit.

Denis Coles was 26 when he raped an 11-year-old girl walking home from Girl Guides in Cardiff in 1977.

The crime went unsolved for decades, until the police reopened the cold case in 2019, using new DNA techniques to re-examine samples which pointed to Coles.

Coles, who now lives in a care home in Rumney, Cardiff, was deemed unfit at an earlier trial, but a jury found that he did the act in a “trial of the facts”.

A trial of the facts allows evidence to be tested but does not require a jury to return a guilty or not guilty verdict, only whether the accused committed the alleged acts.

Limited

Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, said the options open to her in terms of sentencing were limited and he could not be given jail time.

She handed him a supervision order for two years and he must sign the sex offenders register.

Coles appeared before the court via video link, with white hair and wearing a blue jumper, sitting in a large armchair.

He had no previous conviction but had received cautions for burglary in 2008 and theft in 2012.

An impact statement written by the victim, who cannot be named, was read to the court by the prosecution’s James Wilson.

In it, she said she was “still going through hell” 44 years later because of Coles.

Trauma

She said: “This is something that I should never have to put into writing, in fact, no one should have to explain the trauma they have endured over the last 44 years that was down to someone else gaining pleasure.

“The night I was raped was the most traumatic of my life, I was just 11 years old, enjoying my evening at Girl Guides and I never saw this coming.”

She said her childhood was taken from her “in the blink of an eye”, changing her whole life and affecting her mental health.

She added: “In my eyes Denis Coles knew exactly what he was doing that night, waiting at the top of the hill for his victim to walk past, unfortunately, that victim was me.”

The court heard that the victim was usually met by her mother for the short walk from Girl Guides, but her younger brother had been unwell, and she had finished the journey alone.

On the way, a man with a bicycle stopped her, initially asking for the time, before dragging her away and raping her.

He ordered her to count to 50 before she moved while he cycled away.

She then ran home and told her mother what had happened, and her mother called the police.

A local man was arrested but was later found not guilty.

Cold case review

Passing sentence, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said: “A cold case review was conducted in 2019, police still had the tapings taken from the clothing, a search of the national database led to the defendant.

“DNA from the semen found on the tapings was compared to the defendant’s DNA, there was a match probability of at least one billion.”

She said through the trial Coles’ mental health deteriorated and he became unfit to be tried but the jury found he did the act.

The judge said the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 specified what orders the court could make when a defendant is unfit.

“There is no doubt that if the defendant had been fit to plead, even at his age, he would have received a very substantial custodial sentence,” she said.

“There cannot be anything but considerable sympathy for (the victim), she was the victim of an horrendous offence at a very young age.”

While the judge acknowledged Coles had limited movement, she said she had seen him walk unaided during the trial.

Handing Coles the supervision order, she said: “I have taken into account that other people live and work in the care home and that there may be children present visiting other residents.

“Therefore, I am satisfied that the defendant requires supervision from the probation service.”