Cardiff Sex Offender Dies in Prison After 12-Year Sentence

A 79-year-old grandfather who sexually assaulted a vulnerable teenager has died in prison whilst serving a 12-year sentence.

Thomas Mullen, from Cardiff, was found dead on 3rd May at Parc prison in Bridgend. The Prisons Ombudsman has confirmed an investigation into his death is ongoing.

Mullen was convicted in 2018 of three sexual offences after targeting a vulnerable young woman he found sitting in a Cardiff underpass just days before Christmas 2017. He invited her to his home in Lincoln Court, Llanedeyrn, for a hot drink before locking the door and carrying out what the court described as a “frightening” sexual assault.

The attack had devastating consequences for the victim, who considered suicide afterwards and shaved off her hair because she felt ill knowing he had touched it.

During sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said: “It’s clear from her victim personal statement your victim was very vulnerable indeed and your actions have had a profound and severe effect on her.”

She continued: “Her vulnerability was extreme and the severe psychological harm caused to her was extreme. When you saw her in that underpass it would have been obvious to you she was alone and cold.”

The judge added: “I take the view when you saw her there, walked away, and turned back there was specific targeting there.”

After the assault, Mullen warned his victim: “You’re not going to say anything are you?” and told her to deny having been at his flat if police questioned her.

Defence barrister John Ryan said Mullen had struggled with alcohol misuse since 2000 and experienced difficulties after losing his partner to breast cancer in 2006.