A MARRIED firefighter admitted yesterday that he was the serial sex attacker known as the “Beast of Bath”.
Over a year Adrian Warburton, 37, a father of two, carried out a series of attacks on woman walking home alone in the early hours. He would follow them then put on a balaclava before pouncing from behind.
Warburton pleaded guilty to nine charges of indecent assault including three of “assault by penetration”. He was told by the judge at Bristol Crown Court that he will be jailed for his crimes when he is sentenced in March.
Warburton was caught after police mounted Operation Edge to identify the sex attacker bringing fear to the normally safe streets of the Georgian city. Detectives worked out that most attacks took place at weekends during the university term.
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On the first weekend of the autumn term more than 80 officers were on the street, many in plain clothes. Warburton was stopped at 2am after officers saw him circle the Circus, Bath’s best-known Georgian square, three times in his BMW. He was unable to explain what he was doing and was arrested but released on police bail. He was rearrested after he left a note admitting responsibility for the attacks then tried to to take his life by slashing his wrists and throat.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Inspector Guy Turner, of Avon and Somerset Police, said Warburton terrorised women who enjoyed the pubs and clubs of Bath.
He said: “There was a pattern to these crimes. They coincided with university terms but we didn’t know who the attacker was. The description wasn’t brilliant as he grabbed them from behind and wore a balaclava.”
Warburton, a firefighter with the Wiltshire Fire Brigade, first struck in October 2004 and gradually refined his technique. He would often cycle along the canal path from his home in Trowbridge, 20 miles from Bath. The first attacks were carried out in the city centre but police believe that he later identified potential victims and followed them home.
He attacked his first victim, a 21-year-old woman, on October 7 in a secluded square in the city centre. He struck again five days later, assaulting a 19-year-old woman in a pedestrianised street also in the city centre.
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By November 7 he had begun targeting women as they left pubs and clubs and trailing them to residential areas where there were fewer people on the streets. That night he attacked twice. His first victim was a 25-year-old woman walking back to her car. Less than two hours later he struck again, attacking a woman aged 29.
Superintendent Nigel Rock, heading the investigation, said at the time: “In my view he is now identifying potential targets close to the city centre then following them for some distance to a place where they are more vulnerable.”
The assaults continued into last summer when his last and youngest victim, a 16-year-old girl, screamed so loudly that she woke a neighbour who frightened Warburton off.
Relatives and colleagues said yesterday they were shocked and bewildered by his behaviour. His father, Rob, said in a statement: “As a family, we are feeling a sense of shock, of distress and deep sadness. My son is an educated man. It is inexplicable to us why he committed these crimes.”
Wiltshire Fire Brigade said Warburton had 11 years of unblemished service and was highly regarded by colleagues.
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Eugene Johnson, the deputy chief fire officer, said: “Even with the benefit of hindsight, we found nothing that should have raised concern. Perhaps this explains why his crimes has caused such shock.”