Robert Lesarian Howard

Case record: Robert Lesarian Howard

Background

Robert Lesarian Howard was 61 years old. He had a history of offences against teenage girls stretching back to 1964 and had a string of previous sex convictions dating back 40 years. He came originally from the Irish Republic and later moved between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England.

He was known to have used the name Lesley Cahill and was later described as calling himself the Wolfman and the Wolfhill Werewolf. The name “Lesarian” was believed to be a reference to a mythical child killer. He was born in Wolfhill, County Laois, in 1944, and was described as a tall, gangly boy who was bright enough at school but edgy and easily distracted. By the time he was 13, he was convicted of burglary and was sent to St Joseph’s Industrial School in Clonmel. His release was followed by his father throwing him out of the family home, after which he lived rough in barns and outhouses, and possibly in old shafts and tunnels from the days when Wolfhill had coalmines.

Howard later moved to England. In 1965, when he was 21, he broke into a house in London and ordered a six-year-old girl to undress, claiming he was a doctor. He attempted to rape the child and hurt her. He returned a week later and attempted to break in again, and he was caught and punished with nine days in a borstal, after which he was sent back to Ireland.

In 1969, Howard broke into the home of a young married woman in Durham and attempted to rape her. He was sentenced to six years in jail and served three in Frankland Prison. During his time in Frankland Prison, he assaulted a female member of staff. By 1973, he was free and was again sent back to Ireland.

Using the name Lesley Cahill, he got a factory job in the then prospering seaside town of Youghal, County Cork. In May 1973, a 58-year-old woman who lived alone woke up to find Howard in her bedroom. He had broken into her house, made her hand over her money and keys, forced her upstairs again, broke her ankle, tied her to her bed, stuffed her mouth with cotton wool, and raped her before driving off in her car.

Howard was arrested at Dublin airport. Psychiatrist Dr David Dunne interviewed Howard at the time, described him as “extremely courteous,” and believed he was an explosive psychopath and should be sent to jail for an indefinite period; the outcome described was that Howard “could have got life. Instead, he got 10 years. He was out again in 1981.”

After Howard returned to Wolfhill in 1981, local opinion was that he was not going to waste any time before returning to his old tricks.

In 1983, Howard got married to a young woman he met in a Dublin hospital. The marriage lasted three years, and they lived at various addresses in Dublin. She was described as emotionally troubled, with friends later revealing that Howard was violent and cruel to her.

In 1988, he was jailed for 15 months for larceny. In 1990, Howard went to Northern Ireland to attend an alcohol treatment unit run by nuns in Newry, County Down. At around this time he met Pat Quinn and moved to Castlederg, living first in a caravan park at the edge of the town.

Other details

Howard was not on the sex offenders register set up in 1997 because his convictions in the UK dated from before then. Ireland established a sex offenders’ register in 2001, and the text described liaison on the monitoring of sex offenders between authorities in the North and the South, and between Ireland and the UK, as seriously underdeveloped.

He was described as having a “history of offences against teenage girls stretching back to 1964” and as having a predatory interest in young teenage girls. He was described as plotting ways of being alone with them and being prepared to use extreme force.

The offence

Howard was convicted of murdering Hannah Williams, a 14-year-old south London schoolgirl from Deptford. Her body was found in a cement works in Kent.

Hannah had disappeared from her home in April 2001 and had been gone for 10 months. She was strangled with a 12-metre rope, probably soon after she disappeared. Her body was discovered in a cement works site when a workman spotted a foot sticking out of a roll of blue tarpaulin.

Hannah’s mother described the identification and aftermath: “She would have made a beautiful bride,” says her mother. “But instead of a white wedding, we had a white funeral.” “I finally found out my daughter was dead, and that her body had been found, by watching it on the telly,” she says. “To find out that way was unforgivable. I screamed and then I cried and cried.”

Howard used his girlfriend’s mobile to call Hannah to her death during his trial.

Investigation

Kent Police investigated the case and led to Howard. Police checks quickly revealed Howard’s background. The text described a “similar fact” evidence approach in the Maidstone trial.

Detective Inspector Colin Murray (now retired) led the investigation into Hannah Williams’ death. The text described that he had no witnesses and no DNA evidence, but relied on circumstantial evidence and similar fact evidence.

Gahan testified about Howard’s grooming techniques. The text states that, during Gahan’s account of her rape, Howard put a noose around her neck.

Kathleen Arkinson gave evidence about Howard’s part in Arlene’s disappearance.

A police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Nuala O’Loan, launched an inquiry into the handling of complaints against Howard there. Gardaí in the Republic applied for permission to question Howard in connection with disappearances of at least two young women in the 1980s and 1990s. British police questioned him earlier about 13-year-old Amanda “Milly” Dowler, abducted and murdered in 2002.

The text also described suspicion that Howard may have been linked to the disappearance of up to six women, and that Irish police reopened two missing person cases: Jo Jo Dullard and Annie McCarrick.

Arrest

Howard was arrested on 23 March 2002, eight days after Hannah’s body was found.

During the earlier events described in the text, Howard was also arrested at Dublin airport in connection with the 1973 offence against a 58-year-old woman.

Trial

Howard’s conviction for murdering Hannah Williams occurred at Maidstone Crown Court in October 2003. The jury convicted him in three hours. Reporting on the trial was severely restricted because Howard had also been charged with murdering Arlene.

The text includes a sentencing statement attributed to Mr Justice McKinnon during sentencing:

“It is clear that you are a danger to teenage girls and other women, and have been for a long time.”

During the Maidstone trial in October 2003, it was revealed that Howard used his girlfriend’s mobile to call Hannah to her death. Detective Inspector Colin Murray had no witnesses and no DNA evidence, and relied on circumstantial evidence and similar fact evidence. A traumatised young woman gave evidence that Howard brought her to the same place where Hannah Williams’ body was later found and tried to sexually assault her; she escaped.

Howard’s girlfriend’s mobile use, the rope and strangulation, and the noose described in Gahan’s testimony were all part of the described evidence.

Sentencing

Howard was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2003.

He was serving life for raping and murdering Hannah Williams in Kent in 2001, and he was later described as serving life in Frankland Prison, Durham.

Appeals

The text described a reporting restriction connected to separate proceedings in Northern Ireland while Howard faced additional serious sex charges there.

A jury at Belfast Crown Court cleared him of murdering Co Tyrone teenager Arlene Arkinson. The text stated that Arlene vanished near her home in Castlederg after attending a disco at Bundoran in County Donegal with friends in August 1994, and her body has never been found. It also stated that Howard had been acquitted by a majority verdict of 10 to two of killing 15-year-old Arlene Arkinson in 1994.

The acquittal in the Arlene case occurred in June (with the month referenced in the text), and later weeks described that reporting restrictions were lifted after other serious sex offences were dropped.

Outcome

STATUS and sentencing outcome: Howard was found guilty in October 2003 of murdering Hannah Williams and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Additional outcome described for Northern Ireland: Howard was acquitted of murdering Arlene Arkinson (15-year-old), whose body has never been found.

The text described the Northern Ireland prosecution’s handling of similar fact evidence and that the public prosecution service in Northern Ireland did not attempt to introduce similar fact evidence in the Arlene case.

Aftermath

After Hannah Williams’ trial and conviction, the conviction could not be reported in the UK for a time because Howard faced separate sex charges in Northern Ireland, which were later dropped. Reporting restrictions were lifted later, after these charges were dropped.

Arlene Arkinson’s sister Kathleen commented on the jury and on the lack of awareness of Howard’s criminal history: “They knew nothing about him, nothing at all. And we were sitting there and we knew his past from we were in Kent,” she said. “We were like: 'My God, why can't they not let you know he is already doing life? Look at his convictions.' We were sitting frustrated. We felt like just roaring it out, but we couldn't.”

Kathleen Arkinson also said: “Arlene’s body has never been found,” and the text included a statement: “We need a full public inquiry into how this man got let go again and again to do the things he did,” says Arlene’s sister, Kathleen.

A detective described Howard’s motive and behaviour in relation to Hannah Williams: “Howard had a predatory interest in young teenage girls,” said Det Insp Martyn Cochrane, who helped bring him to justice at Maidstone Crown Court. “He plotted ways of being alone with them and was prepared to use extreme force to get what he wanted.”

Det Insp Cochrane also said: “We are satisfied that we presented a compelling case which resulted in a unanimous guilty verdict for this evil man,” said Det Insp Cochrane.

Regarding Howard’s involvement and subsequent events connected with Gahan and Arlene, the text included further quoted material from Priscilla Gahan, including:

“I'm the luckiest person in the world sitting here. There is no way he was letting me out of there alive after what he'd done.”

And:

“I was roaring, crying, and he told me to shut up, that he was going to do what he was doing whether I was alive or dead,” she says.

Gahan also described a part of her experience:

“I was afraid,” says Gahan, “but I don't remember why. When we got to the flat, I had a pounding headache. He gave me some pills. I remember sitting on his knee. I remember nothing then until I woke up the next morning naked in his bed. He started coming on to me, and I said no. He said I hadn't said that last night. He started getting annoyed then, and that is when he put the rope round my neck.”

And:

When she escaped, after three days held captive, Gahan told police she'd been raped, but she felt they didn't believe her. “They banged the table and shouted at me,” she says. “They wanted to know why she hadn't tried to get away sooner, and why she did not, initially, tell them about her interest in the taxi driver.”

A local RUC officer statement quoted about the Arlene disappearance included:

“He said, 'I wish I could show you that man's file. You wouldn't believe it.' ”

The text also included a statement by Barry Cummins: “This was a man who travelled freely all over Ireland and the UK, and lived in many places,” he says. “The police should be looking at all unsolved disappearances, murders and sex crimes against women and girls during the periods when he was at large. They should be asking, 'Where was Howard?' ”