January 2023 Support worker tied severely disabled woman to bed and filmed her performing sex acts A support worker tied a severely disabled woman to his bed before filming them engaging in sexual activity. Armed forces veteran Joseph Shaw invited the victim and her friend to his flat after meeting the latter through a dating app. He then engaged in a series of sex acts with her, which she would not legally have been able to consent to due to the extent of her learning difficulties. Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday that the 21-year-old victim has a mental age of eight and an IQ in the bottom 0.1 per cent of the general population, causing a “significant degree of intellectual impairment”. Peter Wilson, prosecuting, described how Shaw initially met her friend – who also suffers from learning difficulties, although “not as profound” – through online dating site Badoo. They began communicating over WhatsApp, exchanging sexually charged voice notes and video chats, before he visited her at her flat on one occasion. In summer 2018, the defendant invited the two women to his home in Warrington and arranged for a taxi to collect them. The three sat drinking beer in his bedroom before the friend’s dad picked her up and took her home, leaving the complainant alone with Shaw. He later admitted under interview with police and to probation officers that they “began kissing” before he “tied her to the bed”, subsequently untying her when she asked to go to the toilet. But the 28-year-old also confessed that he had undressed her, the two had touched one another sexually and she had performed a sex act on him. Shaw, of Lydstep Court in Callands, took photos and videos of these sex acts but later deleted them. He then put a condom on but “got the impression she didn’t want to have sex as her body language changed”. They then got dressed again, and she phoned her friend asking to be picked up. Her father then returned and found the woman stood in the street outside Shaw’s home. She later told her mum after she got home that a “man did something to her that she didn’t want him to do”, and the incident was reported. In a statement read out to the court on her behalf, the victim outlined how she has suffered from flashbacks and nightmares while she occasionally wakes up crying and runs to find her mum and dad. She said she “used to be outgoing, but it has changed her and made her quiet”. The woman added: “Sometimes I break down in tears. I have all these problems, and to make it worse this man did this bad thing to me.” Shaw previously served in the army but was given a dishonourable discharge after being convicted of drink driving in 2018, then became a residential support worker for young people with mental disorders. William Staunton, defending, said the sex offence came during “what was effectively a blind date”. He added: “At the material time, the defendant was in a downward spiral. He had resorted to drinking, he had lost his place in the army – a post that was of immense pride to him. “This was in the aftermath of his world coming tumbling down – he lost that because he couldn’t stop his drinking. He is remorseful and he understands the impact of what he did on the lady concerned.” Shaw, who hugged members of his family before entering the dock, admitted sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder impeding choice. He appeared shaken as he was told he will serve two thirds of a seven year and eight month prison sentence before being eligible for release. Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: “It is clear that she is a young woman who has very significant learning difficulties. She is someone functioning with an IQ in the bottom percentile of the general population with a mental age of eight years and two months. “It frankly takes only a moment to appreciate that she has these difficulties. It would have been obvious to you in an instant. “You must have been aware she was significantly challenged in terms of her learning difficulties. You have had struggles with your own mental health and experienced difficulties in the army – I have no doubt that the loss of that career was a significant blow to you.” Shaw was also told to sign the sex offenders’ register for life. He was subjected to a lifelong sexual harm prevention order and was banned from contacting the victim indefinitely by a restraining order.