by A vicious predator banned from Baguley from exposing himself to schoolgirls failed to learn his lesson – and found himself behind bars.
Robert Emmerson, 40, was shot outside Manchester Crown Court in 2015 after a judge let him walk free – but not before banning him from the entire south Manchester neighbourhood.
Almost a decade later, Emmerson stood before a judge again as jurors announced their unanimous decision to convict him of a series of sexual assaults. The depraved pervert who was barred from Baguley repeated his sick deeds under the Mancunian Way, and now has a long prison sentence.
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He was found guilty of five counts of sexual assault and seven counts of exposure, all but two of which occurred in the shadowy underpass under one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
Emmerson first came before the court after he ‘frightened’ four victims, aged 14 and 15, with a ‘piercing condition’. Working in a bargain shop in Wythenshawe at the time, he lay waiting on the way to take the girls to school.
Emmerson would pretend to urinate against a wall, and even hide in the bushes to watch the school children as they walked. He also exposed himself to two of the victims – one of whom was ‘disturbed’ by their ordeal. Sometimes he would ‘tut’ the girls as he lowered his trousers.
In the courtroom, defense counsel Mike Brady, who was 30 at the time, said the behavior was ‘out of character’. He told the court that Emmerson had learning difficulties, had fallen very ill with meningitis and hydrocephalus the previous year and ‘would not be able to cope easily with the rigors of prison’.
Mr Brady also told the courts that Emmerson would not cause them ‘any trouble’ again – or schoolgirls across the city. “This was a very real lesson for him, whatever he says about being innocent, the whole process was extremely difficult for him, which will perhaps protect against repeating such behaviour,” he said.
Emmerson was able to walk free, sentenced to two years, suspended for 18 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work, Judge Martin Steiger QC made Emmerson subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prohibited on it from Butcher Lane, Sand Lane, Timpson Road and Churchstoke Walk. , Wythenshawe.
But in 2023, police became aware of a series of sexual assaults in the Manchester Way subway which appeared to follow a ‘pattern’. The victims claimed that the person, who was not known at the time, would reveal himself to them. In some cases they said he grabbed them from behind in a ‘bear hug’ and tackled them to the ground. Many of the victims – who were university students walking to lectures – described him as ‘smiling’ as he overcame them.
At the same time, two reports came from Wythenshawe of a man exposing himself to two schoolgirls.
In April this year, detectives were able to use CCTV to track suspect movements. What they found brought them straight to Emmerson.
He was arrested on April 22 at his ex-partner’s home in Wythenshawe. Five victims positively identified Emmerson from an identification parade, and he was charged with five counts of sexual assault and seven counts of exposure – all of which he denied.
Opening the trial on Monday (October 14), prosecutor Emma Kehoe KC said police had received several reports of sexual offenses committed under the shadow of the underpass near Manchester City University, which appeared to be they are all ‘connected’. ‘.
“How the attacker lies waiting on the pavement and how the attacker would masturbate or touch their genitals, or in some cases grab them [complainants] in a bear hug and dragging them to the floor with his punishment against them,” she said. “In some cases he pinched their vaginas through clothes.”
Mr Kehoe told jurors how multiple victims described the man as ‘laughing’, ‘laughing’, and ‘making noises that suggested he was enjoying himself’ as they screamed while ‘pinning them down’ or ‘raising them’ and touching them sexually. . All the victims were able to escape and reported the incident to the police, the court heard.
The court heard how Emmerson was eventually tracked down by police following ‘rapid reports’ of two alleged assaults on April 15, 2024.
Sitting in the dock during the eight-day trial, Emmerson chose not to testify himself. But a jury saw through his denials, and on Wednesday (23 October) he was unanimously convicted of all offenses after deliberating for an hour. He will be sentenced next month.
After the hearing, Alex Mann, Senior Crown Prosecutor for North West PSC, said: “Emmerson is a sexual predator who targeted women and girls in broad daylight. on those he attacked.
“Emmerson has shown no remorse, denying the offenses and putting victims through the added trauma of having to reveal their ordeal while testifying against him at trial. Manchester Police to bring him to justice.”
