July 2012

Man given 12 years for gunpoint sex assault

A MAN who sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint in front of her boyfriend has been sentenced to 12 and-a-half years in prison.

Judge Douglas Field passed sentence on Keith Henderson at Salisbury Crown Court.

The jury took just over two hours to find the 57-year-old, formerly of Cooks Close in Fugglestone Red, guilty after being told he was a billion times more likely to have committed the crime than anyone else due to a DNA profile match.

The attack happened on Salisbury’s Town Path in the early hours of October 7, 2001, but despite a large-scale police investigation and appeals on the television programme Crimewatch, no suspect was found until a decade later.

Henderson, who was working as a close constable at the Cathedral Close in 2001, was arrested on October 4 last year and charged with indecently assaulting the girl, causing actual bodily harm to the boy, false imprisonment of them both and possession of an imitation firearm, because the authorities cannot be sure if it was a real gun or not.

He denied all five offences but was found guilty earlier today after a two-and-a-half day trial.

On Monday prosecutor Rachel Robertson described the incident as “horrific and terrifying”.

The jury heard the couple, now in their 20s and who can not be named for legal reasons, were walking home from a night out at about 2am when the 16-year-old boy was hit on the back of the head and temporarily lost consciousness.

Henderson then grabbed the girl, holding the gun to her head, and threatened to kill her if she made any noise. He forced them both to climb over a gate into a neighbouring field and made her boyfriend lie flat on the ground while he forced the girl to perform a sex act.

Despite being threatened by Henderson, the victim managed to ensure there was DNA evidence on her clothing, which the police later recovered.