Sex-attacker lived in fantasy world

He told a 20-year-old he molested at gunpoint that he was a bodyguard to a number of celebrities, including Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters union boss in America.

Maru claimed he had been armed with a machine gun on some protection jobs, a boast described as 'moonshine' by prosecutor Rex Tedd QC.

But Maru's sheer bulk and his knowledge of unarmed combat were enough to reduce men to sobbing wrecks.

His last victim, a 20-year-old who lived with his parents in Fleet, was taken in by a promise from Maru that he could help sponsor his motor racing ambitions.

Yet after being attacked, he believed Maru was connected 'to bad people' and was able to target his family with a phone call to crooked accomplices.

One piece of evidence which turned out to be reality was the notoriety Maru had established while in the UK between 1995 and 2002.

He showed one man an entry on the Metropolitan Police's internet website. Displayed were Maru's 'wanted' details and his photograph, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The sex fiend's campaign of homosexual assaults began in Ledbury while he was employed on a fruit farm. The 16-year-old victim was so traumatised that he left to live abroad.

Maru fled while on bail and by March 1998 was working as a security officer looking after a complex of flats, shops and a hotel in south-west London.

His second victim was a 25-year-old wine shop manager. They watched a porn video together, smoked cannabis and drank vodka before Maru pounced.

In July 2000, Maru was living in a flat in Churchill Road, East Barnet, north London. His next victim was 21 and reported to police a 'blank memory' after Maru gave him drink in a pub.

He awoke in the defendant's flat being subjected to oral sex and was forced to jump from a bathroom window in terror at 4am to escape.

The last victim was attacked at the Old Emporium pub in Fleet, Hampshire, on September 12 last year.

A suitcase discovered by detectives helped uncover Maru's activities. It contained documents bearing his aliases and a bogus driving licence. Intimate swabs taken from Maru linked him through DNA with some of the attacks.

Terror campaign began in Ledbury

A SERIAL sex attacker who began a campaign of terror against young men while he was living in Ledbury has been jailed for 12 years.

Roger Maru, a 6ft 4in New Zealander, first struck in 1995 against a 16-year-old youth working for a farming company.

Wearing only boxer shorts, the distressed teenager burst into a pub to beg for help after being molested in a bedroom.

Maru twice went on the run from police after being granted bail and preyed on three more victims before finally being arrested last year in Fleet, Hampshire. He had used a variety of aliases and worked as a security guard and a nightclub bouncer.

Maru, aged 35, formerly of New Street, Ledbury, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault and possession of a firearm to commit an indecent assault. Further counts of male rape and false imprisonment were left to lie on the prosecution file.

Judge John Cavell branded Maru a danger to the public and ordered him to be deported after serving his sentence because of the likelihood of further crimes.

Police suspect that Maru may have used a 'date rape' drug to stupefy his victims, since some evidence describes complete memory block of events before the assaults took place.

Rex Tedd QC, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court, said the homosexual attacks followed a similar pattern. Maru took advantage of victims while they were drunk.

In August 1995 Maru was employed as a security officer on a fruit farm in Ledbury and was given a temporary home in New Street with his own set of keys while the owner was abroad on holiday.

Escape

Maru, nicknamed Jabba, and a group of friends planned to visit Alton Towers and the defendant invited the 16-year-old to stay at his home overnight ready for an early start next day.

The youth ended up badly affected by alcohol. He was visited in his bedroom by Maru who carried out a sex act on him against his will.

The victim managed to escape his clutches by running barefoot into the Ring of Bells pub and pleading with the landlady: "Don't let him get me."

Violent Maru came into the pub a short time later and tried to force the youth outside - but customers and staff intervened.

Police detained Maru who protested his innocence. But before the case came to Worcester Crown Court in March 1996 he jumped bail.

There followed further sex attacks on men aged 21 and 25 in London and on a 20-year-old man in Fleet.

At one stage his custody time limits expired and he was given bail a second time but started offending again.

During the final crime, Maru used a police baton and an imitation gun to terrify his victim, an engineer and successful racing driver who had ambitions to graduate to Formula One.

Mr Tedd said it was unclear how Maru, who hails from Hamilton in New Zealand, came to be in England. His offending at home included arson and making false fire alarm calls.

Nigel Lambert QC, defending, said Maru had saved witnesses reliving their horrific experiences by pleading guilty on the day of trial. Maru was 'dogged by confused sexual orientation' and was sorry for the distress he had caused.

Judge Cavell said the incidents clearly demonstrated a course of premeditated conduct against victims selected at random.

He told the defendant: "You plainly represent a risk to young men. You invited or persuaded victims, the worse for drink, to come back to your accommodation. When they were semi-conscious or unconscious, you committed serious sex assaults on them."