A child rapist who fled to Turkey and Russia has been arrested.
Martin Gill, from St Helens, absconded three days before he was due to stand trial accused of historic sex offences at Liverpool Crown Court. The 36-year-old was convicted in his absence and subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison.
He was detained at Manchester Airport on Thursday last week upon his arrival back in the country, having been at large for around six months. The court heard today, Tuesday, that he had flown to Istanbul at around 12.30pm on Friday, June 3, having been due to go on trial the following Monday.
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Catherine Skeet, defending, said her client had travelled onwards to Russia "to inform his fairly new wife of the trial and convictions he was facing". There had been no direct flights to the country due to sanctions imposed amid the conflict in Ukraine.
Gill, of Waring Aveune, pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching court bail this morning and was handed an additional six months behind bars. Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "It was a flagrant decision of yours.
"It may be that you wanted to inform your partner of your impending trial, but that could have been done in alternative way without leaving the jurisdiction. It was a deliberate attempt to evade justice."
Gill committed his campaign of sexual abuse in the early noughties when he himself was a youth. He indecently assaulted one victim when she was aged as young as 10 and performed sex acts on her, then raped the younger girl when she was roughly 13.
A statement read on her behalf during his sentencing in July described how she "didn't want to live anymore" as a result of his actions and had attempted to take her own life. The statement added: "I have nightmares which take me back to being a young, vulnerable child."
Gill's escape from the UK came after an earlier trial was postponed when he tested positive for Covid-19. He had admitted six counts of sexual assault but was found guilty of a further four of the same charge plus two of rape by a jury.
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