Bogus forensic scientist jailed for child rape

Last updated at 14:32 GMT, Friday, 11 December 2009

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.

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.

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.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/8407395.stm