Rapist told he is '˜beyond help' after Leeds Crown Court hears of history of sexual violence

Sex predator Alan Higgins has a history of sexual violence dating back to when he was a schoolboy.
Leeds Crown Court.Leeds Crown Court.
Leeds Crown Court.

During his latest trial Higgins admitted to having ‘rape fantasies’ as long ago as 1971.

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A judge described how he was ‘immune’ to help after he continued to offend despite taking part in sex offender treatment programmes while in custody.

Alan Higgins.Alan Higgins.
Alan Higgins.
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Higgins carried out his first offence in 1973 when he was aged 16.

He held an air pistol against the head of a girl the same age and tried to force her to go with him to a park.

The victim screamed and managed to escape.

Higgins was arrested but claimed he had done it as a joke and was let off with a caution.

In 1999, Higgins was jailed for 15 years for attempted murder, kidnap and indecent assault of a girl aged 13.

He was working as a bus driver at the time of the attack.

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Higgins managed to gain the girl’s trust after giving her a lift in his car from Keighley bus station.

He pulled on to an unmade road, threatened her with a screwdriver, assaulted her so violently she was unconscious for a time and bit her before she managed to escape.

She was found in a distressed state with extensive bruising and hair loss.

While in custody Higgins took part in a number of sex offender treatment programmes in a bid to convince prison authorities he was no longer a danger.

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Judge Robin Mairs said: “You pretended to them that your rape fantasies and violence towards women was extinct. It wasn’t.

“It only lay dormant until you were released.”

Higgins then went on to commit the rape offence offences against the adult after his release from jail on licence in October 2005.

The judge added: “While this was going on you managed to persuade the probation service that you were no threat and you were signed off.”

During the same period he began exchanging details online with a 15-year-old girl, telling her he was 37.

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They arranged to meet within days after she told him she was looking for sexual experience and on a number of occasions he took her to hotels for sex.

On one occasion they went into woods.

Messages later recovered showed in one he had asked her if she wanted little girls’ stuff like shopping or the cinema or him to have sex with her.

On another he said: “I love you baby” and when she asked why he said: “Cos you do anything I ask without asking questions.”

Higgins, then of Ridge Crescent, Middlestown, Wakefield, was given an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) with a minimum of two years after admitting four charges of sexual activity with a child and one of grooming her.

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The sentencing judge described how he continued to pose a risk of physical and psychological harm to young girls.

Higgins was eventually released in January 2016 before going on to commit his latest offences against the 13-year-old girl.

Judge Mairs told Higgins: “You are a determined and entrenched paedophile.

“It would seem that you are immune to any remedial work.”

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