Life sentence stands for rapist as appeal fails

Thursday 30 July 2015

The Court of Appeal has upheld the life sentence of a rapist convicted of “the worst campaign of sustained abuse against a single victim that the Island has ever seen”.

Ian Bartlett – sentenced in February to a life sentence with a minimum of ten years – had appealed to the court, wanting his sentence converted to a 15-year term.

He was the first person ever sentenced to life for an offence other than murder in the Island’s history.

Before sentencing, he had admitted counts of rape, procuring an act of gross indecency and indecent assault.

But in a hearing yesterday, the Court of Appeal upheld the life sentence, saying that the Royal Court had correctly sentenced Bartlett based not just on the seriousness of his crimes, but also on the danger that he posed to the public if released.

At the time that he was sentenced Bailiff William Bailhache said that: “There is evidence that he is likely, if at large, to remain a danger to adolescent and pre-pubescent girls for an indefinite time. In our view, the offending which we have set out in detail earlier in these reasons clearly established that the defendant has manifested perverted tendencies.

“This defendant has quite deliberately groomed a young girl over the period of the offences into deviant sexual practices. The evidence before us shows that she was not a willing victim, despite that grooming.”

The case was heard by Court of Appeal judges James McNeill QC, Nigel Pleming QC and David Perry QC.