A LONE elderly woman raped by a dangerous drug-addict burglar in her isolated home in the dead of night has been praised for her courage but remains haunted by the ‘wicked’ and ‘chilling’ attack. Keith Brown broke into the home of the 83-year-old in a remote rural location in Worcestershire, knowing she lived alone and there would be no one in the house to try and stop him.

Brown could not even look his victim in the eyes as she bravely faced him, sat just yards from him, at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday. He kept his head lowered in the dock, occasionally rolling his eyes up towards the ceiling as if something of great interest occupied his attention there.

The woman, praised by the judge for both her courage and ‘phenomenal presence of mind’ during the attack, glanced across at the defendant, a flicker of disgust clearly visible upon her face when she saw him for what must have been the first time since the harrowing attack.

The 55-year-old heroin user and convicted burglar of Blakes Lane, Guarlford, near Malvern admitted rape following the assault on August 12 this year during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rachel Brand QC, prosecuting, said at a later stage the defendant, upon being asked why he had carried out the attack upon her, said: “I wanted sex that night and I went into her home because there would be no men or anyone else living there that would prevent me doing what I wanted to do.”

The baker, who worked in Tewkesbury, drove to her home when he finished work, clocking off at 11.17pm, lying to his long-term partner over the phone, saying he was driving on the motorway and that he may be a while because of flash floods.

His partner later said he sounded ‘a bit funny on the phone’ and thought he had been drinking. Before the attack Brown turned off his mobile phone.

Brown gained entry to the victim’s home via downstairs window either to the kitchen or the larder.

The victim had been asleep and, seeing a light, believed it may have been lightning because of inclement weather at the time, but when she sat up in bed saw the defendant in her room holding a torch.

Brown said to her: “Hello, I found you. I knew you would be here.”

The woman asked him ‘who on earth are you?’ and what he was doing in her home. But the defendant addressed her by name in what sentencing judge, James Burbidge QC, said must have been ‘chilling’ for her. She still had no idea who he was yet he had remembered her from a previous meeting years before when he had been a causal labourer.

“The defendant got onto the bed and commenced a sexual attack upon her” said Miss Brand. The defendant put his hands under her nightie and pulled down his own trousers. The victim decided not to fight off her attacker ‘because she genuinely feared for her life’ said Miss Brand.

The woman, who had lived at the house for more than 50 years, also tried to talk to him in a reasonable manner. When she asked him his name he told her it was ‘Stephen’. When she asked him if he had a wife he replied he did but then changed his account and said he did not.

At one point he put his hands on her neck. When she told him to stop he did so, telling her he did not want to hurt her. Miss Brand said: “He told her she was sweet and lovely. He also suggested to her that he might return again on the following day.”

In a decision that the judge said was both courageous and showed great presence of mind the woman fled the house wearing only her night clothes, her rationale being that she knew the house and the lie of the land better than her attacker and would have that advantage in the dark.

She hid in an overgrown part of the garden as she watched the defendant switching on lights in her home. She was able to alert her neighbours at around 3am, telling them there was a man in her house.

Police were called and a police dog was also deployed. Brown was found in his Honda Accord on a track just 100 metres from her home. He had trailed muddy footprints through the house and forensics found his DNA on a face mask and cigarette butts he had dropped in the bedroom.

The woman suffered a cut to her mouth and an injury to her private parts during the attack itself and also sustained scratches to her legs which may have been sustained while she hid in the overgrown part of her garden.

Brown answered ‘no comment’ in interview but on the evening of August 15, made an unsolicited comment as he was being taken back to his cell. He first asked a police officer if he would be able to enter a plea when he appeared at court on Monday and added: “Because I’m going to plead guilty. You can tell her that I’m going to plead guilty. I will explain it in court.” He also agreed to answer questions put to him by the victim when they were repeated to him by police. She wanted to ask him ‘why her’ and he responded: “I went there because I knew there were no men to prevent me doing what I wanted to do.”

Brown, a convicted burglar and thief, said he had not been watching the house. He told officers he was ashamed of what he had done and that he was sorry. The defendant had also been reported to police for making sexual advances towards another woman the previous year but no further action was taken.

In a victim personal statement the woman who was attacked said she felt like she was ‘living in a daze every day, wondering ‘did it really happen to me and why me?’” She described how she would wake up ‘terrified and reliving seeing a man in my bedroom’. “This still haunts me” she said. She never used to fear the dark but now is frightened to go out on her own. The woman, described as both independent and self-reliant, has been supported throughout by ‘wonderful friends’, some of whom came to court to support her.“I’m determined not to let it ruin the last few years of my life and hopefully get some closure and carry on,” she said.

Judge James Burbidge QC told the defendant: “It was a crime of great wickedness, almost beyond comprehension.” Finding Brown dangerous in law, he described the attack, committed in drink, as being of an ‘evil nature’ and coming ‘out of the blue’.

The judge imposed a sentence of 13 years and eight months. This is made up of a prison sentence of 10 years and eight months with a three year extended licence period to reflect his dangerousness. He must serve at least two thirds of the sentence in custody before being considered for release by the Parole Board. The days he has spent on remand will count towards the sentence. The judge also imposed an indefinite restraining order to protect the victim which prevents contact of any kind, including via third parties.