Abertridwr rapist jailed for second attack

A man who raped an 89-year-old woman in Abertridwr is back behind bars for an offence a judge said had “remarkably similar characteristics.”

Hilland Matthews, 66, appeared yesterday (Thursday) at Ipswich Crown Court where he was jailed for a total of nine years.

In 1992 Hilland, then living at Abertridwr, Caerphilly, was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the rape of a widow in her own bedroom while he was working as a window cleaner.

Judge David Goodin said that as in the attack in Wales, Matthews had confronted a 53-year-old woman living alone at a bungalow in Ipswich, Suffolk, in June last year before sexually assaulting her.

The woman later told police that she feared she was going to die during the ordeal which has left her fearing to be alone and suffering sleepless nights.

Matthews pleaded guilty to sexual assault, sexual assault by penetration and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Prosecutor Michael Crimp said Matthews, now living in Ipswich, was caught through a DNA sample obtained when the woman had tried to fight back and scratched his face.

Mr Crimp said that Matthews had previous convictions at Cardiff Crown Court dating back to 1974 and involving the attempted rape of a 17-year-old girl and the sexual assault of another teenager.

Sentencing Matthews, Judge Goodin said the attack in Ipswich appeared to have involved a degree of planning and had “remarkably similar characteristics” to the one committed in Abertridwr.

Defending, Peter Barlex said Matthews regretted what he had done and wanted to apologise.

Matthews had been drinking before the attack.

In a letter to his partner, Matthews had said: “I feel ashamed of what I did to that woman. I feel very sorry for her.”

It has also been revealed that Matthews’ South Wales convictions pre-dated the Sex Offenders’ Register and it is believed he was not included on it.

Caerphilly MP Wayne David has said he will raise questions in Parliament over how Matthews could strike again.

In the early hours of March 1992, Matthews, from Bryn Aber, Abertridwr and then aged 46, broke into the house of his 89-year-old victim and raped her twice in her bed.

On October 12, 1992, Matthews admitted rape and was jailed for six years but was released in 1996 after serving just four. A year later a requirement for sex offenders to tell police forces of certain information came into being with the Sex Offenders Act 1997.