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Fake expert jailed for child rape | Fake expert jailed for child rape |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A bogus forensic scientist, who gave evidence at hundreds of court cases, has been given an indefinite jail term for raping young girls. | |
Gene Morrison, of Greater Manchester, was found guilty of a series of sex offences against four youngsters. | |
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard he abused and manipulated four victims after meeting them in church. | |
Morrison, 51, is already serving a five-year sentence for posing in courtrooms as an expert investigator. | |
He has now been given an indeterminate term of imprisonment for public protection and ordered to serve a minimum of seven-and-a-half years. | He has now been given an indeterminate term of imprisonment for public protection and ordered to serve a minimum of seven-and-a-half years. |
His victims came forward after he was exposed as a fraud and jailed in 2007 for posing as a forensic expert. | His victims came forward after he was exposed as a fraud and jailed in 2007 for posing as a forensic expert. |
'Walter Mitty' | |
Morrison preyed on young girls between 2000 and 2007, befriending four girls aged between eight and 14. | |
The court heard how Morrison, from Hyde, used his "eloquence and charm" to groom the youngsters, raping two of them when they were aged just 10 and 11. | |
Described as a "Walter Mitty" character, Morrison - known as "Rocky" around his home town - would act as a "father figure" to vulnerable young girls. | |
He would ply them with presents before starting to grope and sexually assault them, before eventually raping some of them. | |
The court heard families often trusted him because of his apparent good job as a forensic expert - exposed as bogus in 2007 - and his religion. He took the girls to 7th Day Adventist Churches. | |
He was a very important person with a very important job and I was just a dirty schoolgirl Morrison's victim | |
Judge Timothy Mort, sentencing, said: "Underneath it, you were utterly ruthless, because you targeted those who were vulnerable and put their trust in you. | |
"When things were not going your way you were not slow to resort to violence. | |
"You are, whilst charming, utterly ruthless as a sexual predator." | |
Victim impact statements were read to the court by Vanessa Thomson, prosecuting. | |
One girl wrote: "He was a very important person with a very important job and I was just a dirty schoolgirl. The mental scars will remain with me forever." | |
Morrison will only be released when the Probation Service deem it is safe to do so. | |
'Scarred for life' | |
He was convicted of three counts of child rape, six counts of indecent assault, four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one count of perverting the course of justice in October. | |
All were specimen charges representing just some of his conduct, the court heard. | |
Outside court, Det Con Kath McKenzie, from Greater Manchester Police, said Morrison had inflicted "untold misery" on four girls. | |
"Morrison thought of himself as something of a charmer, but he could be intimidating and was clearly able to scare his victims into remaining silent. | |
"Some of his victims have now grown into young women, but some of them are still teenagers. | |
"However, they all have one thing in common - they will never be able to forget what has happened to them and have been scarred for life." | |
Morrison is already in jail after tricking judges, barristers, solicitors and police into believing he was qualified in forensics, giving his "expert" opinion on the evidence. | |
He actually left school with no qualifications and his degrees were downloaded from the internet from bogus US universities. |
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