December 2020 Pervert wrote suicide letter admitting abuse of boy A pervert admitted sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in a suicide letter he wrote after he found out his victim was planning to come forward. Robert Latham had been reported as a missing person after discovering his crimes had finally come to light years later. Police eventually found the 60-year-old in a campervan where he had planned to kill himself. In the note, discovered by police, he detailed how he had sexually abused the boy. Latham, of Ainsdale Road, Bootle, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court this afternoon after he was arrested and charged. Paul Becker, prosecuting, explained that an interview with the victim had taken place in 2018. Mr Becker said: “The defendant had been reported as missing from Merseyside a couple of days prior. “On October 17, 2018, Latham was located by police in Derbyshire in a campervan and claimed he had made attempts to take his own life.” The court heard there were materials in the van which confirmed his intentions. Mr Becker explained that the offences took place years prior. Latham had claimed he had no sexual interest in children, but had become aroused when the boy ‘played with himself’. The court heard they engaged in penetrative sexual activity. The court heard he was formerly a lecturer at Hugh Baird College, but since the prosecution case, now only leaves his home once a week. Latham admitted two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child. Latham was handed two years and eight months in jail and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life. There was no application for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order or a restraining order.