Sex attacker rapes victim a day after leaving jail early in stretch limousine

6:50am Saturday 5th July 2008

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A sex attacker raped a woman a day after leaving jail early in a stretch limousine.

Neal Allanson was then granted bail on the rape charge only to launch another terrifying sex attack.

Victims groups, police and politicians condemned the court and prison systems for allowing Neal Allanson the chance to carry out his sickening crimes.

Sentencing the 41-year-old to life in prison at Chichester Crown Court yesterday, Recorder Malcolm Fortune described Allanson as a danger to the public.

Recorder Fortune told him "you have no understanding of the harm and trauma you have caused by the commission of these offences.

"I cannot assess when the risk of you re-offending will ever diminish or disappear, particularly as you continue to protest your innocence."

Allanson - whose criminal record dates back to 1982 - was handed a 15-month jail term in October 2004 for delivering stolen cars to the Ukraine.

He was released from prison on February 10, 2005, under a "home detention curfew".

He was electronically tagged and ordered to live at an address in Crawley.

The next day, he twice raped a woman at the house after a drunken party.

Allanson was taken back to prison until June 2005 when he became eligible for release from his earlier sentence.

In the mean-time he was charged with two counts of rape and remanded in custody.

On June 7, a judge at Chichester Crown Court granted Allanson conditional bail to allow him out of prison while he awaited trial for the rapes.

He failed to return to court for a hearing in August 2005 and was missing for the next two years.

Allanson claimed he had skipped bail after being threatened by the Russian mafia.

The court was told he was a businessman who demanded to be picked up from prison in a stretch limousine and romped with strippers.

In October 2007 - now going under the name of Robert Garson - he sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman after a party at a flat in Woolwich.

He was arrested and his finger prints proved he was Allanson.

In February this year, a jury found him guilty of two counts of rape.

In April, he admitted the sexual assault at a Crown Court in London.

Recorder Fortune told Allanson he must serve a minimum of eight years and 104 days in prison, and will spend the rest of his life on licence.

He has already served 280 days of his sentence while in custody.

In both offences, he got into bed with women who were sleeping after a drinking sessions and attacked them.

He raped his Crawley victim twice but his attack in London was interrupted when the victim's boyfriend came into the room.

DS Mort Klein praised the strength and dignity shown by the 43-year-old woman Allanson raped.

He said: "The victim has been through a horrendous ordeal.

It is clear in sentencing Allanson that at the forefront of the judge's mind was the protection of the public and particularly women."

Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert said: "This raises serious questions about the use of bail.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that that the bail laws need tightening up to ensure public safty comes first."

West Sussex County Council leader Henry Smith told The Argus: "I suspect this is indicative of how lax the criminal justice system has become.

"There are all-too-many examples it seems of people escaping prison when they should be locked up.

"As a result, these women have found themselves much more vulnerable which should never have been the case.

"We need to have more prison places provided by the Government."