ROBERT WELLS SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN BRIGHTON FOR SERIAL SEXUAL OFFENCES

A former doctor has been sentenced to life imprisonment for a series of sexual offences committed against five young victims across Brighton, West Sussex, Hampshire, and the West Midlands over a span of 19 to 25 years. Robert Cameron Wells, aged 69, received his sentence at Hove Crown Court on Monday, September 6, with a minimum term of 17 years. The court previously found him guilty in July of two counts of indecency with an eight-year-old boy and attempting to possess an indecent image of a child, all in West Sussex in 1998.

Wells had also pleaded guilty to 16 other charges, including: one count of indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl in West Sussex in 1998 while conducting a so-called 'pre-abortion' examination at his Portslade surgery; one indecent assault on an 18-year-old woman known to him in Coventry in 2002; two counts of rape and seven counts of indecent assault on a nine-year-old girl in 2001 — one in the West Midlands and the rest in Brighton; four counts of taking indecent photographs of a girl, all against the same nine-year-old victim, with one in the West Midlands and the others in Brighton—and an indecent assault on an 18-year-old woman in Southampton in 2002. It was noted that Wells was previously convicted in 2004 of sexual offences against her in Hampshire, but subsequent investigations uncovered new video evidence of him assaulting her due to advances in technology.

All these offences involved evidence that Wells used drugs to ensure victim compliance. During the sentencing, the court heard that Wells drugged a boy at a birthday party, took him to another location, and forced him to abuse a sedated girl on a bed—charges related to three offences for which he had not pleaded guilty.

The investigation, led by detectives from the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit and authorized by the CPS, uncovered these crimes. Wells was already serving two sentences for sexual offences against young individuals in Hampshire and South Wales, following separate police inquiries.

He was a general practitioner in Brighton and Hove until his arrest in 2003 and was subsequently convicted in 2004 of 15 years for sexual offences against young girls in Hampshire. As a result, he was struck off medical register. In April 2017, Wells received a seven-year sentence from Cardiff Crown Court for four indecent assaults against three young girls.

Judge David Rennie described Wells as a monster during his sentencing, stating, "You turned out to be the stuff of and the creator of nightmares... You have done incalculable harm to many who trusted you, and your abuse persisted for years. What you chose to do to these survivors shows you have no regard for others or the harm you caused. Lives have been devastated. Your perverted sexual appetite appears to know no bounds."

Detective Constable Owen Watkins of Sussex Police emphasized Wells's systematic pattern of abuse, saying, "Wells was clearly a systematic and serial sexual abuser of young people, using his charm and professional status to lure victims into a false sense of security for his own gratification." He noted that only one victim was abused while Wells was acting in his capacity as a doctor, with others influenced by his role through family or work connections, making his misuse of authority particularly disturbing.

He added, "These convictions, along with his previous ones, demonstrate a long-standing pattern of reprehensible behavior, and it is reassuring for the victims and the community that he is now unable to continue such predatory conduct for many years." The victims, some of whom testified in court, expressed full support for the investigation. One victim, now in his thirties, provided evidence, and others were prepared to do so, demonstrating commendable bravery. The police also expressed gratitude to colleagues in Hampshire Constabulary for their assistance in this complex case.