Man jailed for life for ‘campaign of rape’ after release from secure hospital

A man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of more than 11 years for carrying out “a campaign of rape and attempted rape” after being let out of a secure hospital.

Louis Collins committed the offences – which included the rape or attempted rape of three different women between August 18 and 21 last year – after leaving Lambeth Hospital in south London, where he had been placed for previous sexual assaults.

On Tuesday, the 29-year-old was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 11 years, five months and 26 days at Kingston Crown Court, after he attacked eight women over the course of four days in London last summer.

Among other offences, Collins raped at knifepoint a woman who was exercising alone in a park, followed a woman home and attempted to rape her inside her building, and attempted to rape a woman he followed off a bus.

He committed the offences while he was on permitted day release under a hospital order and was being considered for release back into the community.

A judge said Collins had been “getting 12 ecstasy tablets each fortnight” and was smoking cannabis while at Lambeth Hospital, adding that he was “not unwell” when he committed the offences.

Collins, of no fixed address, was also subject to a sexual harm prevention order at the time of the offences, which prohibited him from “approaching, deliberately following, speaking or communicating with any females unknown to you in public”.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Simon Heptonstall told Collins: “Your behaviour was the stuff of nightmares for all women and their families.

“This was a campaign of rape and attempted rape over a short period against multiple victims, with some less serious but far from minor offences.”

The offences included the rape of a woman who was exercising alone in Marble Hill Park in Twickenham, south-west London, on August 21 last year.

Collins punched and then abducted the victim, holding a knife to her neck and telling her he would stab and kill her if she screamed.

Judge Heptonstall said the victim “does not feel safe anymore” and “is hyper-vigilant”.

He added: “She cannot go out alone, her home feels like a prison. She cannot work in the same way. She remains haunted by your attack.

“She is determined to fight to get her life back and refuses to be defined by what you did to her.”

Collins was detained at Richmond railway station after pushing through the barriers at 9.40am on August 21, within half an hour of the victim returning home and seeking help.

Police officers returned Collins to Lambeth Hospital, where he was arrested at 9pm that day in relation to the rape.

Other offences committed by Collins included the sexual assault of a woman on an escalator at Clapham Common Underground station on August 18.

On August 20, Collins followed a woman home in the City of London, forced entry to her building and attempted to rape her.

The next day he followed a woman off a bus at Willesden Green and then chased her, punching her as he attempted to rape her – with the attack halted by someone arriving wielding a baseball bat.

Also on August 21, he sexually assaulted another woman he followed off a bus, telling her: “I will slash you.”

Judge Heptonstall said Collins had “established a pattern of sexual offending since 2015”, which included sexually assaulting a 14-year-old in a McDonald’s in November 2019.

Those assaults led to a hospital order being imposed on Collins at Kingston Crown Court on April 3 2020.

The judge said Collins, who had previously been diagnosed with hebephrenic schizophrenia, had used drugs since he was 12, starting on cannabis and moving to ecstasy, ketamine and cocaine in 2019.

Addressing Collins, who gave a thumbs-up as he left the dock, he said: “You were using drugs at the time of these offences. You had been getting 12 ecstasy tablets each fortnight while at the hospital. You were smoking cannabis.

“Your leave had been reduced earlier in the year and that had made the voices worse. They were telling you to rape a girl and have sex with a girl. You did not speak to the staff about this.”

Judge Heptonstall said the fact there is “very limited capacity in prisons at present” was of “minimal” consideration in regard to sentencing, because Collins is already in jail and “clearly must go to prison”.

He added there is “not just a significant but a very high risk” of Collins committing further sexual offences.

Collins was sentenced for rape, attempted rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, kidnap and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence, and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

He was also sentenced for making threats to kill, outraging public decency, actual bodily harm, strangulation, threatening with a blade and threatening with offensive weapon.