April 2014 British paedophile and child abductor jailed for 20 years in Morocco A man has been jailed for 20 years in Morocco for kidnapping and attempting to rape three girls, it is reported. Robert Bill, 59, a former teacher from St Asaph, Denbighshire, was convicted by the court in Tetouan at a hearing attended by his victims, according to a source quoted by the AFP news agency. He was arrested in the port town of Tetouan in June 2013 after residents heard a girl screaming in a car. He was jailed for six years in 2009 for trying to abduct a girl in Flintshire. AFP said Mohammed Benaissa, who heads the Northern Observatory for Human Rights, was at the trial. Mr Benaissa said: “We welcome this ruling, because it protects the children and it sends a warning to paedophiles.” Bill, who had denied the charges, has 10 days to appeal the verdict. He was also fined 100,000 dirhams (about £7,350). He was arrested last June at a petrol station in Tetouan in northern Morocco when locals overheard the screams of the six-year-old girl he abducted, surrounded his Spanish-registered car and alerted the police. He was also accused of kidnapping and attempting to rape another two Moroccan girls prior to his arrest – one in Tetouan and one in the nearby town of Chefchaouen. His trial had previously been postponed when the defendant’s Moroccan lawyers withdrew from the case and, at the previous hearing in March, one of the victims passed out in court, Mr Benaissa said. The former teacher, who later ran a business as a playground designer, has previously been jailed in the UK for child sex offences and has been described by a judge as a “sexual predator”. In March 2009 he was jailed for six years at Caernarfon Crown Court for the attempted abduction of a five year-old girl in Holywell, Flintshire, in 2007. He later appealed and after pleading guilty before a retrial, was then sentenced to a two year prison term at Chester Crown Court in 2010. After leaving prison he travelled to southern Spain, arriving in Morocco in November 2012 from the town of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the north African coast. Spanish police had issued a warrant for his arrest on separate paedophilia and kidnapping charges. January 2014 Already convicted child abductor trial adjourned The trial of a man accused of abducting and raping three six-year-old girls in Morocco has been adjourned. Robert Bill, originally from St Asaph, Denbighshire, was arrested in the port town of Tetouan in June last year after residents allegedly heard a girl screaming in a car. The 59-year-old is also accused of an attack on another child in Tetouan and another alleged victim in the nearby town of Chefchaouen. The trial will resume on 11 February. Bill was detained in June 2013 after residents surrounded his Spanish-registered car and notified police. The girl he allegedly abducted, who was from a family in Tetouan, managed to escape, it has been reported. Bill was alleged to have raped another young the girl in Chefchaouen several days earlier. He was a resident in the town of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, and a police arrest warrant had been issued in Madrid for paedophilia and kidnapping, according to reports. Bill is also wanted by the Spanish authorities for the attempted abduction of a 12 year-old child at Velez Malaga in 2011. The former teacher who later ran a business as a playground designer, has previously been jailed in the UK for child sex offences and has been described by a judge as a “sexual predator”. In March 2009 he was jailed for six years at Caernarfon Crown Court for the attempted abduction of a five year-old girl in Holywell, Flintshire, in 2007. He later appealed and after pleading guilty before a retrial, was then sentenced to a two year prison term at Chester Crown Court in 2010. He had also admitted breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order. After leaving prison, Bill travelled to Spain and was working as an estate agent when police in Malaga issued a warrant for his arrest. June 2013 Dangerous paedophile on the run for six months arrested in Morocco A dangerous paedophile on the run for six months has been arrested in Morocco after he allegedly attempted to abduct a six-year-old girl. Robert Bill, 58, of St Asaph, was captured after the girl’s cries for help were heard in the north Moroccan city Tetouan as the convicted child molester was chased through the streets by residents who held him as police rushed to the scene. The ex-teacher – who fled from the Costa del Sol – was wanted by Interpol over the failed abduction of a 12-year-old girl. Bill was named in local reports following his arrest on Tuesday. The father of four grown-up sons has convictions for attempted abduction, indecent assault and having indecent images of kids. He had been living in Morocco illegally since early this year, according to reports. His ex-wife Jacqueline Bill, who has previously branded him “evil” and urged him to give himself up, said she was “glad he’s not out there anymore”. Mrs Bill, who in 2009 was convicted along with son David of destroying a laptop computer containing scores of indecent images of children in order to protect her depraved former husband, said: “I haven’t heard from him at all since he left the country. “All I know is what I’ve already been told and I don’t know how much of it is true. I hope for the child’s sake none of it is true, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if everything that’s been said is true.” Mrs Bill, who was given a six-month suspended sentence and also ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work for destroying the laptop, added: “In a way it’s good to know he’s in custody.” Bill, a Jehovah’s Witness, was the subject of an international search and arrest warrant issued by a judge in the southern Spanish town of Velez-Malaga following a daylight attack outside the town’s court buildings last November CCTV-footage showed the girl narrowly escaping being kidnapped in a Peugeot 106 car owned by Bill. A manhunt centred on expat communities in the Axarquia area where Bill moved to last August. He had worked as an estate agent before fleeing. According to local reports Bill is also suspected of the rape of two young Moroccans in Tetouan and Chefchaouen. Following a police interrogation Bill was brought before a judge in Morocco. Mrs Bill said in December that her church-going husband was “very plausible” as a “respectable” former teacher, family man and businessman. “He used us to hide behind. That’s what he did. That’s the worst thing for me – that he convinced us and used us as a shield to carry on his activities,” Mrs Bill said. November 2012 – Now living in the Malaga area of Spain March 2009 St Asaph pervert jailed for trying to snatch girl, five A 54-YEAR-OLD former teacher, businessman and senior Jehovah’s Witness with “a perverted fascination for young children” was yesterday jailed for six years. Robert Edward Bill, of The Roe, St Asaph, had been found guilty after separate trials of the attempted abduction of a girl of five at Holywell two years ago, indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl 10 years ago, and of possessing 730 pornographic images of children. He was told by Judge Philip Hughes at Caernarfon Crown Court: “The nature of your offending demonstrates you have an unhealthy sexual and predatory interest in young children which despite your convictions you continue to deny.” Prosecuting, Simon Medland said the five-year-old girl was going home from a playground when Bill, “for malign purposes,” drew up in his car and asked: “Have you seen a cat?” By chance the girl’s uncle arrived at that moment and her horror-stricken mother, who had been watching from a window, ran down to her. Mr Medland said Bill had claimed he was trying to fix a problem with his car. A police inquiry revealed that the car had also been driven in an odd manner at Flint that day, stopping when children came into view. Mr Medland stated that when Bill had a playground equipment company he had been warned off a Towyn holiday park by police after officials there became concerned about his conduct with children. The barrister said the indecent assault occurred at St Asaph. Although the girl had recalled seeing a camera there was no evidence it had been used. David Potter, defending, pointed out that the offences did not involve touching, grabbing or coercion. He said Bill had hoped to return to teaching, but this would now be impossible. He accepted the need for his behaviour to be monitored in future and that his actions had brought fear and suspicion for his family and church. Judge Hughes imposed a four-year sentence for attempted abduction, one-and-a-half years for indecent assault and six months for possessing the pornographic images, most of which, he said, were of the lowest category. As he left the dock to begin his sentence Bill embraced his son and kissed his wife’s head as they sat awaiting sentence. His wife Jacqueline, 51, received a suspended six months jail sentence after she admitted trying to pervert the course of justice by destroying a laptop hard drive, and must do 250 hours unpaid work. Son David, 24, of Mount Road, St Asaph, must do 150 hours unpaid work after also admitting that he tried to pervert the course of justice. Judge Hughes told them: “I recognise that you were both in a misguided way trying to protect a husband and father.”