Crimewatch alert led to arrest at Birmingham Airport of former St John’s Buildings lawyer
A Sheffield barrister has today been sentenced to a four-year jail term after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Desmond Rosario — formerly a criminal law specialist at top northern chambers St John’s Buildings — gained notoriety last December after failing to appear at a magistrates’ court hearing in Leicester and then going on the run.
His flight featured on the BBC’s Crimewatch (below), with South Yorkshire Police speculating at the time that Rosario had fled the country and was seeking work as a lawyer abroad.
However, the barrister was arrested 24 hours later at Birmingham Airport.
According to the Sheffield Star newspaper, prosecuting counsel at Leicester Crown Court told the jury that Rosario had visited the home of an acquaintance in October 2013 and then assaulted that person’s daughter.
The newspaper reported trial Judge Simon Hammond as describing the crime as “a gross breach of trust. The reason this happened was because the defendant had a drink problem. He had too much to drink on that day.”
According to the report, Judge Hammond went on to say:
“The courts have a duty to protect the vulnerable and that includes girls from sexual predators. The defendant is 46 and a man of previous good character. He was a practising criminal barrister and it gives me no satisfaction to have to pass sentence in this case.”
Previously:
Ex-St Johns Buildings barrister goes on the run after police seek to question him over sex attack on teen [Legal Cheek]