A serial sex offender has been found guilty of creeping into a woman’s home and staring at her from the foot of her bed.
Robert Basterfield was convicted of entering a neighbour’s property and watching her while she slept.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard the convicted creep let himself into the St Catherine’s Square flat and silently made his way through the hall and lounge.
The woman opened her eyes to see Basterfield – already on the sex offenders register – in her room.
Basterfield, who conducted his trial without a lawyer and while wearing shorts, was unable to persuade jurors that his intentions were entirely innocent, and he was there to scrub the woman’s flat.
Unwanted visitor
The court heard evidence from the 33-year-old victim who lived in the flat Basterfield snuck into.
She said she and a man were dozing in bed.
“We were partying,” she said. “We crashed out. I was slightly awake.”
“I opened my eyes and Mr Basterfield was standing at the bottom of the bed.
“He stood and he stared. I said what are you doing in here?
“He asked if he could come back later. I said ‘Get the f*** out my house.'”
The woman told jurors Basterfield wasn’t a friend, acquaintance or associate of hers.
A man who had also been sleeping in the bed also gave evidence.
The 29-year-old explained Basterfield had traversed the hallway and living room silently before entering the bedroom.
“He was advancing towards (her) up until that point. I don’t think he was expecting me to be there.
“He did retreat very quickly. It was very apparent he’d taken steps to remain undetected.
“He said he needed to talk to her. He was escorted out.
“She was absolutely terrified.”
Messy explanation
Basterfield represented himself throughout the trial as his lawyer withdrew from acting, after the jury had already been balloted.
He told jurors he had let the woman and another female into St Catherine’s Square the day before after they’d been locked out.
He said after seeing her flat was “knee deep in crap” after what looked like a party and claimed he’d arranged to attend on the Sunday with cleaning kit.
Basterfield claimed to jurors that he attended more than once.
He said after chatting to the man in the bed while they watched a black-and-white film, he eventually did scrub the flat until it was “spick and span” and “spotlessly clean.”
At the conclusion of his evidence, Basterfield said: “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
Addressing jurors, he added: “I let myself in. I apologise for any alarm. This is not an admission of guilt.”
A jury of five men and 10 women took around half an hour to find Basterfield guilty of threatening or abusive behaviour by majority.
They found that on May 28 in 2023, Basterfield entered the flat uninvited, made his way into the bedroom, stared and made comments to the occupants.
The 53-year-old had been released on bail at Perth Sheriff Court twice in the six weeks prior.
“Imminent risk” of harm
Following his conviction, Basterfield, who has been on remand since June 13 last year, explained while in prison he’d arranged a new tenancy at Perth‘s Crieff Road.
After the jury had returned its verdict, prosecutor Sarah Wilkinson asked that Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown find there was a significant sexual element in Basterfield’s offence.
This would mean Basterfield would be put on the sex offenders register.
She explained that Basterfield, already subject to notification requirements, had been assessed through MAPPA as being of a very high risk of sexual reoffending.
Ms Wilkinson added that Basterfield, who has convictions for stalking, breaching the peace, sexual exposure and indecent communications, was assessed as being an “imminent” risk of causing “serious harm.”
Basterfield opposed her suggestion of a significant sexual element, again claiming he’d been there to clean.
Sheriff Martin-Brown said: “I find that there is a significant sexual element to this charge.
“I consider that there is a risk to the public so I’m going to refuse bail.”
The sheriff ordered background reports, including an assessment for post-release supervision to be prepared ahead of sentencing on February 20.
On that occasion, the sheriff will also make a ruling on whether or not to impose a non-harassment order to protect Basterfield’s victim.
History of perverted offending
Basterfield, who hails from Perth, Australia, hit the headlines in 2007 as the first man in Britain to be banned from “accosting” lone women under a unique five-year prevention order.
Police branded him “highly dangerous” and claimed he was “capable of using extreme violence”.
But they lost a fight to have him banned from solo contact with the opposite sex for 30 years.
The former taxi driver was twice prosecuted for hounding females in Perthshire and was jailed in 2006 for stalking a rugby club barmaid.
Basterfield has also previously wound up in court for following an Italian tourist, offering to show an explicit photo to a chemist selling him Viagra and sending a picture of his genitals to a virtual stranger.
In 2021, he was back in court for breaching the terms of a Sexual Offenders Prevention Order by sending hand-drawn images of male genitals to two women from his prison cell.
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