Carer caught having sex with vulnerable woman at work in Yorkshire is jailed

Carl McQuilliam-Jenkins, 49, was sentenced to six years and four months in prison at York Crown Court today after he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault by penetration.

The agency care worker sent photographs and videos of his penis to the woman, who has austic spectrum disorder and requires 24-hour care, before having sex with her several times in her flat, which is at a residential home in the Harrogate area.

The victim told another member of staff in January 2020 and when she was interviewed by police, she said “he wanted to do sex in a relationship” but had told her to keep it a secret.

Catherine Silverton, prosecuting, said: “She said that at first she liked him but in her words ‘it was getting too much with the sexual things and stuff’.

“She didn't want the sex to happen, but she consented to it because she wanted to make him happy.”

Ms Silverton said there was evidence of “grooming behaviour” and “planning”, as he had brought a spray which he used to treat erectile dysfunction.

The father-of-two, who has an autistic son, also refused to use contraception and the victim claimed she contracted a sexually transitted infection from him.

She is subject to a deprivation of liberty order, because she cannot make decisions about a variety of aspects of her life, but it does not cover sexual relationships.

Syam Soni, representing McQuilliam-Jenkins, said his client accepts he was in a position of trust and his actions were “patently inappropriate”.

He also said his client’s “repeated errors of judgement” were the result of the “pressure and stress that he was facing”, as he was working around 90 hours a week at the time to provide for his family and suffering from anxiety and depression.

“The defendant knows that he has lost it all," said Mr Soni.

“He has lost his good name, his good character, his unblemished record, his reputation, contact with his children, his 25-year-old marriage with his childhood sweetheart - as he put it - and in moments his liberty.

“He will have to live with all of that.”

His Honour Judge Hickey said McQuilliam-Jenkins had decided to have sex with the victim even though she was clearly vulnerable and he breached the trust placed in him by the woman and her family.

McQuilliam-Jenkins, who has no previous convictions, was jailed for six years and four months and hit with a sexual harm prevention order, that prevents him from having unsupervised contact with vulnerable adults.