Murder bid pensioner guilty (From Western Telegraph)

Murder bid pensioner guilty

A 71-year-old Pembroke Dock man who told police he would rather go to prison for murder than rape was convicted of attempted murder by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court last week.

George Ronald Fairbrass, of Hamilton Court, had been due to stand trial at Swansea Crown Court in April charged with raping a 21-year-old woman who had previously lived in Pembroke Dock. He was found guilty of attempting to murder the woman's mother a month before the trial was due to start.

The court heard Fairbrass travelled to the women's home in Portsmouth, armed with a table leg wrapped in polythene, to get the women to change their story regarding the rape allegations. There he strangled the mother and beat her unconscious.

Fairbrass was cleared of rape, but convicted of the attack and witness intimidation. The court heard Fairbrass had been furious when the daughter complained to Portsmouth police that he had raped her in Pembrokeshire.

Both women had left the area but, despite being granted bail on condition he did not contact them, Fairbrass went to their Portsmouth address carrying a pair of gloves and the table leg in a bag.

He waited outside their flat on March 29th and, when the mother returned, ushered her inside. There she scratched his face while he tried to throttle her.

Police found her bleeding profusely from a head wound and with other cuts to the head and with marks to her neck.

When arrested, Fairbrass had scratches on his face and blood stains on his clothing. He admitted telling an officer, "I'd rather go to prison for murder than rape any day."

Fairbrass told the court he had had consensual sex with the younger woman. He said he attacked the mother after she hit him and scratched his face. He claimed he 'blanked out' and could not remember details but was adamant he left her conscious. He will be sentenced after a report into his mental health.