Rex Case - the man the jury didn't believe

------------------------------------

Rex Case - the man the jury didn't believe

REX Case began fostering vulnerable children 30 years ago after replying to an advert from Hampshire Social Services who were appealing for more carers.

He and his wife Carol, who met as childhood sweethearts and married in the 1960s, underwent training to deal with children with extreme problem backgrounds.

Despite their 49-year marriage, the court heard that in 1988 Case was having an affair.

They had a child of their own, a son named Dean, who provided them with a grandson. They all lived together at the family home in Holly Hill, Bassett.

Case, who was born on October 30, 1943, has always maintained that the fostering of children was his wife’s job – he was working in a One Stop warehouse in the security department until he retired at the age of 57.

It was in the early 1980s when the Cases took in their first child, but he went on to foster a total of 24 boys and girls in the years that followed.

A self confessed homophobe of 40 years, Case and his wife also took in respite placements and he told the court that, including foreign students who came to stay with him, a total of 34 girls lived in his home in 35 years.

He told jurors: “There were 34 and we are proud of it. They made me feel young.

I enjoyed the children. We had a big house, a big garden, it was fun.”

Case has always maintained his innocence and denied ever bathing or helping children with the toilet due to his “aversion to bodily fluids”.

The court was told Case had numerous previous convictions relating to his younger years, beginning with theft when he was just nine years old when he stole sweets from Woolworth’s.

He also had convictions for causing criminal damage, burglary with intent to steal, theft of a gun and possession of a weapon in a public place.