Stephen Hawking-style voice box first for court

Wheelchair user Christopher Killick thought he would get away with sexual assaults on two men because they could not communicate. But last month he was convicted of sexual assault in 1991 and buggery in 2005 on physically disabled men.

For the first time, one victim used a voice synthesiser to speak and the other used an intermediary to give evidence.

Killick, 47, of Bermondsey, south-east London, who like his victims suffers from cerebral palsy, denied the charges.

Judge Peter Rook told Killick he had taken into account the distress caused to him by the Crown Prosecution Service taking four years to bring his case to trial.