Exclusive Robert Hughes confronted following prison release
Robert Hughes: former television star, convicted paedophile.
Last month, the 73-year-old was released from Sydney’s Long Bay jail on parole.
Eight years behind bars appears to have taken its toll.
He looks every one of his 73 years.
After renouncing his Australian citizenship, Hughes was detained by immigration before being deported to the UK.
It was there where A Current Affair tracked him down last week.
For the first time in more than 10 years, the face of the man who was a TV favourite was revealed as I approached Hughes in the busy central mall in Southampton, south-west of London.
“Robert Hughes,” I said as I approached him and his wife – actors’ agent Robyn Gardiner.
For the briefest of moments, I noticed a small smile appear on his face.
I had the impression that perhaps he thought I was an adoring fan from his previous life.
“Simon Bouda, from A Current Affair,” I continued.
With those words the smile vanished as quickly as it appeared.
“Mr Hughes, how’s it feel to be free today?” I persisted.
A Current Affair tracked Hughes down in the historic English port city of Southampton.
“You enjoying your new found freedom?” I asked.
Staring dead ahead, Hughes remained silent as he continued walking – ignoring my questions and the camera in front of him.
Hughes was the star of the Australian family sitcom Hey Dad!
One of his victims included his on-screen daughter Sarah Monahan.
“You were just a child … when this all started,” I asked Monahan before Hughes was granted parole.
“Yeah,” she replied.
“What long term impact do you think it has had on you, because you were just a child? You were what – I think you were aged…” I continued.
Monahan completed my sentence: “I was six when I started – when I did the audition – and I left television because of him.”
For the last 12 years, Monahan has been the very public face of the child sex abuse case against Hughes.
Hey Dad! was a top-rating family comedy through the late ’80s and early ’90s.
Behind the scenes was a terrible and dark secret.
Its star was a paedophile preying on his on-screen daughter, targeting her and abusing her.
“He would do it in front of a live audience … that’s how ballsy he was,” Monahan told me.
A photograph proved to be invaluable evidence – Hughes’ hand hidden by a script, resting in Monahan’s lap.
The look on her face said it all.
“That was a polaroid,” Monahan explained.
“People kept trying to say that it was photoshopped.
“You can’t photoshop a polaroid.
“That’s how he got away with a lot of it, was in plain sight.”
In Singapore – in 2010 – A Current Affair first confronted Hughes about the accusations.
It would be the start of our decade-long investigation.
“I am absolutely shocked at the allegations and I deny – absolutely deny – everything,” Hughes told A Current Affair at the time.
It was the last time Hughes publicly spoke about the accusations.
In 2012 he was arrested in London, extradited to Australia, charged and convicted of sexually and indecently assaulting four girls.
“What about the women you were accused of assaulting – have you got anything you want to say to them?” I asked Hughes when we confronted him last week.
He continued to maintain his silence – no acceptance, no denial.
On June 14, after serving eight years of his 10-year sentence, Hughes was removed from prison by the Australian Border Force before being housed at the Villawood Detention Centre.
On June 28, he flew out of Sydney, somehow managing to avoid any media scrutiny.
He was in the wind.
A Current Affair’s search for Hughes began the day he was released from prison.
Over the ensuing weeks we tracked down his long term wife, Gardiner – a one-time agent to film stars including Cate Blanchett.
Gardiner lives in a modest apartment in the medieval cathedral city of Salisbury – not far from Stonehenge – and 40 minutes’ drive from Southampton.
She ultimately led us to a serviced apartment block in Southampton.
We were there when the reunited couple arrived.
The unit they occupied is a far cry from the four-by-two-metre cell Hughes was used to – almost palatial, you could say.
Websites boast the apartment block has: “Everything guests will need for a comfortable stay … Southampton Common, a popular park, is a short distance from the property … this is the perfect place for guests to go for a walk, run, or enjoy a picnic.”
It could not be further away from the prison exercise yard.
But the serviced apartments are only a few hundred metres from St Michael’s Pre School and a few blocks from Cantell Secondary school.
The New South Wales State Parole Authority announced the decision to free Hughes in a 13-page judgement.
Under his parole conditions, Hughes was ordered to report to police in the UK within three days of his arrival.
He’s also been placed on the UK Sex Offenders Register and has to report any changh of address, or if he’s planning to go on a holiday.
He must also tell police if he plans to stay at an address for longer than 12 hours where a child is present.
Before his release, Monahan told A Current Affair she was concerned Hughes won’t be watched closely enough.
“I feel sorry for the kids in the UK,” Monahan told me before Hughes was released.
“It is kind of scary that there is that situation that he could be completely unmonitored.”
“What’s your greatest fear if he does get parole?” I asked her.
“That he’ll hurt more kids … that he’ll go over there (the UK) and he’ll hurt more kids.”
When we confronted Hughes, I told him Monahan still believes he’s a threat – again, stony silence.
Hughes has never admitted his crimes.
Gardiner has promised that he’ll seek treatment with a clinical psychologist specialising in convicted sex offenders who deny their crimes.
The couple spent the first few days in Southampton using public transport – buses and trains – seemingly to run errands.
Hand in hand – their marriage rekindled.
They often seemed lost and confused as they explored their new surroundings and visited the nearby town of Basingstoke.
But it was clear that they felt they had slipped into anonymity – looking every bit the elderly couple as they walked in the park, shopped for groceries – arm-in-arm as they shared an umbrella in a sudden British downpour.
“Mr Hughes, you always maintained you were a victim in all this – do you still maintain that?” I persisted.
“This is your chance to talk to us.”
With that, the paedophile former TV favourite stalked off.
The cloak of secrecy surrounding his new life dissolved; Robert Hughes was exposed for all the world to see.
