Serial rapist’s attacks 'stemmed from Jersey care home abuse'

Thursday 18 October 2018

A serial rapist, whose offending is claimed to have stemmed from abuse at Jersey children’s homes, has been given additional jail-time on top of existing life sentences after drunkenly terrorising a mother and daughter while on day release from a UK psychiatric unit.

Former soldier Andy Johnson (47) – also known as Andrew Le Feuvre or Andrew Hannam – had already been serving time for over 50 convictions when he was handed the sentence in Croydon Crown Court last week.

Johnson had been held at high-security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor, but was transferred to Bethlem Royal after 11 years there in 2012 because doctors believed his personality disorder was improving. 

He was granted unsupervised day release in February this year following a risk assessment from the Ministry of Justice. 

But, upon his release, Johnson binged on pints and the drug 'Spice', breaking his curfew. 

Pictured: Bethlem Royal, where Johnson had been staying at the time of the offence. (Mtiedemann/Wiki)

During his time in the pub, the court heard that his advances to a woman were rejected, causing a frustrated Johnson to go on the prowl.

On the bus back to the hospital, he decided not to get off at his stop, instead opting to follow a mother and her 13-year-old daughter home.

Aware of Johnson watching them from behind a fence, the pair rushed to enter their home, but he followed them in, pressing against the young girl and warning her mother: “Do as I say and you won’t get hurt.” 

Their screams alerted the father inside, who chased Johnson away and promptly called the Police, who arrested him around 10 minutes later. 

The attack had echoes of the offence that originally saw him imprisoned for life in 1999: the rape of a mother and attempted rape of her 10-year-old daughter after posing as a policeman to enter their home in 1998. 

His other convictions included the planned rape of a Jersey woman in 1995 after forcing his way into her home, and a serious sexual assault on a six-year-old the following year.

The offences saw him handed three lifetime jail sentences, but Johnson was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and placed in psychiatric hospitals rather than prison. 

It was for this reason that lawyer Warwick Tatford, prosecuting, described the case as “unusual.” 

“Part of his release plan, designed to help him if he were granted parole, was to allow his unsupervised release for eight hours. Having been granted substantial freedom and considerable trust, he then decided to use his trust to attend a public house and drink a large amount of alcohol and smoke 'Spice',” he said.

Defending, Francis McGrath said that said that the ex-Royal Hampshire Regiment soldier was “a child victim of serious sexual abuse” during his time in children’s homes in Jersey.

This, she said, led him to  “commit serious sexual offences in turn.” 

Handing Johnson an additional seven years in jail, Judge Deborah Charles described him as “dangerous” and a “significant threat” to the public because he had “little or no control over his sexual impulses.”

She commented: “This defendant harbours a sexual attraction to female children, he is sexually aroused by sexual violence, pubescent girls and incest.

“The offence was committed after he had been partaking for many years in sexual behaviour treatment.”

Judge Charles added: “The offence was committed in this victim's home. This defendant specifically targeted a vulnerable child with her mother as he had done in the past. I am in no doubt he intended to commit a sexual offence.” 

Johnson is currently being held in HMP Wandsworth.