Brass band player Rodney Matthews jailed for child rape

BRASS BAND PLAYER RODNEY MATTHEWS JAILED FOR CHILD RAPE

A brass band player has been jailed for raping a young boy he seduced under a public toilet cubicle door.

Rodney Matthews, now 62 and of Grenville Gardens in Troon, targeted the then 14-year-old, who was confused about his sexuality, in the late 1990s when he slid a note to him asking if he “wanted some fun”.

Matthews proceeded to masturbate in front of the victim before eventually raping him at his groundfloor flat in Roskear, Camborne.

Matthews had been on trial at Truro Crown Court charged with rape and indecent assault but due to a court order Cornwall Live was unable to report the proceedings until now.

On Thursday, the jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts.

The trial had started on two occasions previously but been adjourned when Matthews was taken ill.

He then went on Facebook and identified Matthews from town band pictures before informing the police and subsequently picking Matthews out of an ID parade.

Police enquiries revealed that Matthews had lived in the property at Roskear in the late 1990s.

Although Matthews claimed he had been wrongly identified, Mr Lee said it was “an unusual compelling circumstance” that the man the victim saw in the street in Hayle had resided in the Roskear property he had identified some years earlier and that it simply could not be a coincidence.

The victim saw Matthews again in 2016 in Hayle and eventually reported him.

Matthews was identified and taken to court, where he was convicted.

He was jailed for nine years.