TEENAGER JAILED FOR PREYING ON ELDERLY WOMEN IN SWANSEA
A teenager preyed on elderly and vulnerable women while pretending to be a masseuse and a window cleaner, a court has heard.Jimmy Tawse, 18, would gain entry into the women's homes before asking them to get undressed, a sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court has heard.
Tawse, from Gorseinon in Swansea, paid visits to two 89-year-old women, one 85-year-old, and a 63-year-old who was housebound.
Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, told the court how on May 15 Tawse paid separate visits to two women aged 89 who lived alone.
The first victim was in her living room at around 11.30am when she heard someone enter.
She believed it was a neighbour but it was Tawse.
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Tawse told her he was a therapist and she believed he was genuine.
The defendant then instructed her to go to the bedroom where he told her to remove her top and bra before grabbing her breasts and squeezing them.
The victim told Tawse it was her legs that were the problem and he proceeded to touch her thigh and the waistband of her underwear.
Tawse then told her he was a sexual therapist and he had gone to the wrong address.
She said in a victim impact statement: "It has impacted me in an emotional way.
I don't want to leave the house and feel like people could be watching me in case I go out.
I know he is in prison but I just feel like I might see him again.
I blame myself for this happening to me.
I used to go for walks regularly but now I keep myself to myself because I am worried I will see him again." Tawse left and drove to another house in the area where he approached another elderly woman and told her he was a masseuse who had been sent by her GP.
As she had been waiting for a physio appointment she believed him.
He told her his name was John and asked her to go to the bedroom.
In the bedroom Tawse told her to take off her shirt but she refused and said it was only her leg.
Tawse replied and said it was a "body to body" massage and that he had come all the way from Mumbles for it.
She continued to refuse and he left.
In a victim impact statement read to the court she said: "My confidence has been knocked massively.
I'm lucky if I get two hours sleep but before this incident I was okay.
"I rely a lot on my family.
I feel anger at what happened.
I have been off my food and lost weight because of this.
It has had a terrible impact on me." On June 20, Tawse went to the home of an 85-year-old woman.
She was at home when Tawse knocked on her front and rear doors and told her he'd cleaned her windows and was the son of her normal window cleaner.
Tawse asked for £55 for the service and the woman walked into her house to get the money.
Tawse followed her in and asked if she would "feel his lump" as he gestured towards his groin.
She then handed him the cash and he left the property.
She later asked her actual window cleaner about the man and he had no knowledge of him.
The next day, on June 21, he visited his fourth victim, a 63-year-old with mobility issues meaning she was housebound.
She spoke to him through the window where Tawse told her he was a massage therapist.
She asked who it was for and he said he didn't know but persisted by saying someone had paid £55 for it and "it would be a shame for it to go to waste".
The 63-year-old victim said in a victim impact statement read to the court: "I would not have expected this to happen.
I am in constant fear I will see him again as he now knows where I live.
I don't believe I deserve to be exploited by anyone and I can't be comfortable in my own home." In an unrelated incident on February 16 police attended his family home following a 999 call to the address.
Tawse asked officers to be taken into custody following a disagreement with his parents.
His dad then used words to the effect of "the only way they will take you is if you hit one of them".
Tawse pushed an officer in her chest and he was arrested.
Megan Williams, for Tawse, said her client was 17 when he met the first two victims and outlined how even though he was 18 for the later offence, he wouldn't have matured overnight.
She told the court how it was his first time in custody and he was using this time "productively" to undertake education having left school at 12 years old.
Ms Williams added that Tawse has maintained a job while in custody.
Tawse was charged with trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offence, sexual assault, fraud, and assault of an emergency worker.
He pleaded guilty to all offences.
The court heard how Tawse, of Penyrheol Road, had one previous conviction for theft.
Judge Geraint Walters said: "They are very serious and concerning offences particularly in the case of a man as young as you.
Very very troubling indeed." He sentenced Tawse to seven years in detention with the custodial part being four years.
The judge also ordered indefinite restraining orders for all the victims and ordered Tawse to register as a sex offender and said a sexual harm prevention order would be dealt with in a fortnight.
