He pretended to help women in need, but he had a sinister hidden motive

Barr was arrested after her neighbors intervened and called police, but he was subsequently released without charge. The court heard another woman was imbibing at the time Saint Helens in November 2022, but was left “considering suicide” after an argument with a friend.

Customers of the Chapel End Labor Club in Billinge then found her in distress and invited her in. Barr then walked to her table and, as closing time approached, invited her to return to his nearby premises to wait for a taxi home.

The woman, who had difficulty walking due to the effects of alcohol, is said to have been “initially concerned” but was “reassured by a barmaid and another customer” who told her he was “a good type”. She therefore agreed to return to the house where he lived with his parents, who were away at the time.

However, Barr never attempted to call a taxi for his guest. Instead, he gave her Jack Daniels to drink before also trying to kiss her.

She told him she wanted to leave because of this unwanted approach, but he then locked the front door and “told her she wasn’t going and that she would in fact be spending the night there”. Barr then followed his crying victim as she went upstairs, feeling she “had no other choice”.

He later grabbed her after she lay down on the bed. When she responded by hitting him, he choked her and “told her to behave.”

The woman managed to briefly escape to a bathroom and messaged a friend, who advised her to turn on the location settings in her phone. But as she left the toilet, Barr pushed her onto the bed, pulled down her leggings, rubbed himself against her, bit her nipples and touched her between her legs before chillingly telling her “he could rape her if he wanted to “.

After “screaming and banging on the walls hoping someone would hear her”, she was eventually able to escape from the address about two hours after arriving. At one point during the hearing, her attacker shook his head as Mr Parry-Jones described the complainants as “vulnerable” due to the circumstances of the case.

Steven Swift, defending, told the court: “This is a man with no previous convictions. It is clear that, as he serves an inevitably long prison sentence, there will be a focus on the risk factors of professionals within the prison system. In both cases it appears that it involved a chance encounter with a vulnerable victim.”

Barr was found guilty of three charges of sexual assault and intentional strangulation in relation to the second incident, after admitting a further charge of sexual assault in relation to this attack and a further two charges of sexual assault against his first victim. When he appeared on HMP Altcourse via video link, he was jailed for nine years.

Sentencing, Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: ‘The similarities between these two types of offenses are situations where you pretended to help these women when they were alone in the middle of the night, clearly vulnerable and in need of help. You took advantage of these vulnerabilities and sexually exploited them.”

The judge said of Barr’s first assault: ‘She must have been utterly terrified, given your size, your age and the circumstances she found herself in, alone in the dark at night. Although you were arrested, no further action was taken at that time. “

Judge Menary added of the second attack: ‘She was in a very distressed state that night. She was so upset that she considered walking to a nearby bridge and throwing herself off.

“You were a regular at the Labor club. It was a place you went most weekends. You, along with others, were chatting with her.

“You happened to live nearby and invited her back to your house on the pretext that you would keep trying to call her a taxi. She was somewhat concerned about the prospect of returning to your house alone, but was reassured by others at the club who knew you and, as it turned out, incorrectly said she would be safe with you.

“Actually, you never tried to call her a cab. It was a lie that shows that your real intention was to keep this woman in your home that night.

“You locked the front door behind you, effectively locking her in your house. This must have been a nightmare for this young woman.”

Barr responded to his punishment by puffing out his cheeks before leaning forward and sitting with his right hand over his face. He was also given a restraining order, preventing him from contacting the complainants indefinitely, and was told to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.