In 2023, a 38-year-old intruder who broke into a woman’s home in Croydon and lay beside her on a sofa with his trousers down was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order at Woolwich Crown Court.
Frank Rawlings, residing at Chorley Wood Crescent, Orpington, appeared before the court for sentencing on Friday 8 December 2023, having entered a formal guilty plea to a serious sexual trespass charge.
The prosecution outlined that the alarming incident occurred in the early hours of 8 September. The female victim had fallen asleep on the sofa in the ground-floor living room of her residential property in Croydon. She was awoken suddenly to the sensation of an unknown man’s arm draped across her waist. Upon turning over, she discovered Rawlings—a complete stranger—lying on the sofa directly beside her with his trousers pulled down to his ankles.
The woman immediately screamed at Rawlings to get out of her home, prompting him to get up and flee the premises.
Emergency services were contacted, and responding Metropolitan Police officers initiated an immediate search of the surrounding neighbourhood. Officers located Rawlings a short distance away and detained him. A subsequent search of a rucksack he was carrying uncovered a sex toy. Specially trained officers attended to the victim, who confirmed that she managed to shout him away before any physical sexual contact took place.
During police interviews, Rawlings declined to answer questions regarding his presence inside the property. However, crime scene investigators recovered discarded chewing gum from the victim’s sofa, with subsequent forensic DNA profiling yielding an indisputable match to Rawlings.
Rawlings entered a formal guilty plea to:
One count of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence
Leading the investigation, Detective Constable Sarah Mead remarked:
“This was an extremely distressing incident where a woman woke to find a total stranger in her house. Frank Rawlings has refused to tell us what his intentions were, but the fact that he was partly undressed, lying next to the woman on her sofa gives a clear indication – thankfully, the woman woke up and scared him away. The victim has been extremely brave in supporting this investigation and I hope now that legal proceedings have concluded, she can begin to move on from this distressing incident.”
Passing sentence, the Crown Court judge addressed the acute violation of a victim targeted inside her own home, imposing a hospital order of indeterminate length under the provisions of the Mental Health Act to ensure public protection and psychiatric detention.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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