Identical twin framed for rape of woman

Britain

The Times December 27, 2005

Forgiveness for a rapist from the twin brother he wanted to frame
By David Lister, Scotland Correspondent



Robert Greens admitted rape after maintaining for
six months that DNA evidence would prove his
twin Richard was guilty (PHOTO: PA)

A MAN whose identical twin raped a student then tried to frame him for the attack has vowed to stand by his brother despite being forced to move from his home.

Richard Greens, 28, endured a two-month hate campaign after his brother blamed him for the rape of a student near the Rosslyn Chapel, featured in the novel The Da Vinci Code, in Roslin, Midlothian, last May.

It was only last week that Robert Greens changed his plea to guilty after maintaining his innocence for six months and telling police that tests on his brother’s DNA would prove that his twin, not him, had carried out the attack.

Robert Greens, of Mayfield, Midlothian, was expected to go on trial next year and the case, which would have centred on his DNA claims, would have become a landmark in Scottish legal history. But last Thursday he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh and changed his plea. He is expected to be sentenced next month.

Richard Greens said yesterday that he was 130 miles away, in Fort William in the Highlands, on the day his brother threw a 19-year-old Dutch student down a 30ft verge at the side of a road before beating and raping her. The girl, who was so badly hurt that she was barely recognisable, was found by a passer-by who heard her moaning in the undergrowth. DNA evidence on her clothing linked Robert to the attack, but his defence lawyers told a court hearing this year that the DNA could have belonged to his twin, Richard.

Richard, a labourer with three children, said yesterday: “I can’t even look in the mirror now. All I see is my brother.

“I couldn’t believe it when I was told my brother was planning to use me to try to get away with this. But, despite that, I love him to bits. He is my brother. I know what he has done but I will stand by him no matter what.

“His wife is standing by him and I will stand by him. My heart goes out to his victim.”

He said that he and his family had endured two months of gossip and whispers, while his house had even been paint-bombed, forcing them to move from the town in which they had lived for six years. He was never considered a suspect by police, having spent the afternoon of the attack enjoying a barbecue with friends.

He said: “We moved to Fort William six years ago and had built a life but we had to leave. We had just had enough. I knew I had no reason to hide, but I felt I always needed to watch my back.

“I don’t know what was on my brother’s mind. I went to see him in prison . . . he never mentioned his defence to me and hasn’t explained why he said it.”

Whoa, stranger than fiction

wow