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Date-rape woman pleads for ‘monster’ responsible for her horrific ordeal to be kept behind bars

Co Down victim of serial sex beast fears he will strike again as she urges authorities in Scotland not to free the predator from jail

Today at 06:53

A woman who was date-raped and forced to endure a horrific and prolonged attack is pleading for the “monster” responsible to be kept behind bars.

Christine Jones (41), who is originally from Belfast but now lives in Killough, Co Down, was repeatedly violated over a 30-hour period when she was just 17.

Rapist William Fenton is due before the Parole Board in Scotland in October.

Fenton was the first person convicted of drug rape in the UK after the brutal attack on St Patrick’s Day in 1997.

The predator was sentenced to 12 years in 2000, but went on to reoffend after being released from prison early.

Mrs Jones told the Belfast Telegraph: “The Parole Board for Scotland will decide if he is free: free to rape again, free to walk the streets among unsuspecting women he drug-rapes and videos for his sick pleasure.

“Words cannot describe the danger this beast is — using drugs to rape and assault women, taking away our power to fight him off.”

In 2008 Fenton was convicted of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order. He then moved to Scotland, where he was later convicted of rape. He was subsequently granted parole.

The serial attacker was locked up again in 2013 for drugging and raping a woman and sexually assaulting four girls.

Mrs Jones, who waived her right to anonymity to start an online petition prior to a previous parole hearing for the sex beast in 2018, has launched another campaign to keep Fenton behind bars.

“He’s given me a life-long sentence. Every time I open the paper and see he’s raped another girl, it impacts me, it breaks my heart — it never goes away,” she said.

“To have him walking the streets again, knowing he’s a risk to me and other women, is terrifying.

“Every time he gets out he does it again, and his victims are forced to relive it over and over.”

Her attempt to keep Fenton in prison has already attracted 5,000 signatures on change.org.

She added: “I have moved on with my life, I got married, I have a beautiful family and built a thriving company.

“But I will do everything I can to keep that monster locked up.

“It only affects me when he gets out or is going for parole.

“I haven’t slept in seven days, but I would rather have a week of turmoil than hear that another person has been raped.”

The mother-of-two has submitted a victim impact statement for parole officers to consider before they make their decision.

It details the trauma she suffered after her drink was laced with drugs by Fenton, who picked her up in his car to go to a party. They never made it.

Instead, Fenton drove his unsuspecting victim to his home in Islandmagee and repeatedly raped her before dumping her at the side of a road two days later.

After picking up the pieces of her life, Mrs Jones made a promise to herself — and it’s one she is determined to keep.

“I decided many years ago that I will never be defined by my trauma,” she explained.

“I believe trauma strengthens you. It doesn’t define my life anymore. It did for a very long time, but now I use it to live.

“He nearly killed me with the amount of drugs he put in my body, but I will never let him take another day of my life away. I refuse to.”

More than 50 substances were detected in Mrs Jones’ system when a friend took her to a health clinic following her terrible ordeal.

She wept as the perpetrator was sentenced to “almost one year for every drug” he administered in the bottle of Bacardi Breezer he handed her.

But the sentences ran concurrently, meaning he was caged for 12 years and released after six, despite another victim coming forward and securing a conviction during that period.

Mrs Jones, who praised the Scottish Parole Board for taking her concerns seriously in the past, believes legal reform is needed when it comes to sex attackers.

“There’s lighter sentences for rapists than there is for burglary in some cases,” she said.

“That doesn’t make sense; it’s preposterous actually, and it isn’t good enough.

“I believe that my attacker, because he isn’t a violent rapist, gets lenient sentences.

“He’s a sleekit, mental abuser, which is harder to prove.”

Fenton was so cunning, some of his victims didn’t even know they had been raped until the police knocked on their doors.

“It was only when officers seized his phone and found pictures and videos that they were told about what had happened to them,” Mrs Jones explained.

“He took photos of me to document his twisted and sordid crimes. To this day I have never been able to look at them. I can’t bring myself to see what he did.

“I have hazy memories, and sometimes I get horrific flashbacks. That’s enough to live with, I don’t need to see the pictures.”

Fenton was branded a “danger to females” by a judge who imposed an ‘Order of Lifelong Restriction’ on him.

It means he is subject to indefinite imprisonment, and can only be released on licence if it is determined the risk he poses to the public can be safely managed.

However, Mrs Jones believes Fenton is behind intimidation she has faced in the past few weeks.

She was recently contacted at her workplace and booked for a job at the address where she was raped — the caller then laughed and taunted her when she refused.

“No one will scare me,” she insisted.

“I am no longer a vulnerable 17-year-old.”

The Parole Board for Scotland (PBS) said it did not comment on individual cases.

“PBS considers each case on its own merits and takes account of all the information, including any victim representations, put before it in considering whether a prisoner should be released,” it said.

“If released on licence, then the information is also used to set conditions that would be appropriate for each individual prisoner.

“The conditions are designed in each case to assist with the management of risk in the community.

“If a condition is broken, then the case can be re-referred to PBS to consider whether the licensee should be recalled to custody.”

All of Fenton’s victims registered with the Victim Notification Scheme will be told of the outcome when a decision is made on October 18.