Former Sussex doctor given life sentence for sex offences
Judge David Rennie described Wells as "the creator of nightmares" during sentencing
A former doctor, who used drugs to sexually assault young people in Sussex, Hampshire and the West Midlands, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Robert Cameron Wells, 69, will serve a minimum of 17 years for his crimes, committed between 19 and 25 years ago.
In July, he was convicted of two counts of indecency with a boy aged eight, and attempting to possess an indecent image of a child, all back in July 1998.
Wells had previously pleaded guilty to 16 other offences:
- One offence of indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl in West Sussex in 1998
- One offence of indecent assault on a woman known to him, aged 18 in 2002
- Two offences of rape, and seven offences of indecent assault on a girl aged nine in 2001
- Four offences of taking an indecent photograph of a child
- One offence of indecent assault on a woman aged 18 in Southampton in 2002. He had already been convicted of sexual offences against her in 2004 in Hampshire, but the Sussex Police investigation uncovered new video evidence of him assaulting her, accessible because of new technical developments since then.
"Lives have been devastated"
Wells was already serving two sentences for sexual offences against other young people in Hampshire and South Wales.
Described as "the creator of nightmares" during his sentencing, Wells was a GP in Brighton and Hove until his arrest in 2003. Following his conviction and sentencing to 15 years for sexual offences one year later, he was struck off as a doctor.
In sentencing Wells on 6 September, Judge David Rennie called him a monster and said; "You have done incalculable harm to a lot of people who trusted you, and your abuse went on for years.
“What you chose to do to these survivors shows you have not the slightest concern for other people or the harm that you inflicted when you decided to carry out these crimes. Lives have been devastated. Your perverted sexual appetite appears to know no bounds."
Detective Constable Owen Watkins of Sussex Police said; "Wells was clearly a systematic and serial sexual abuser of young people, using his charm and air of professional distinction to lure them into a sense of false security, for his own gratification.
"Only one of the victims was abused by Wells acting in his official capacity as a doctor, but the others came to know him, whether through family or work, because of his role and were clearly influenced by his status.
"These convictions, and his previous convictions, show how his appalling record goes over many years and it is reassuring for his victims, and for the wider community to know that he is going to be in no position to continue preying upon innocent people for many years to come.
"His victims in this case have given full support to the investigation. One of them, now in his thirties, gave evidence in court, and the others were ready to do so. We admire the strength and bravery shown by all of them, which was so crucial in ensuring that justice was done.
Police emphasise that there are no current or recent safeguarding issues or concerns for youth or wider community safety in relation to this investigation.