A celebrity agent who once managed some of Australia’s biggest stars in Hollywood continues to stand by her convicted paedophile husband as he enjoys his newfound freedom.
Disgraced Hey Dad! actor and child sex offender Robert Hughes was recently granted parole by the NSW State Parole Authority after an eight year stint behind bars.
His release followed two previous unsuccessful applications for parole.
The 73-year-old was released from Sydney’s Long Bay Correctional Facility on June 14.
He spent two weeks holed in Villawood Detention Centre before he was deported 17,000km to the UK after renouncing his Australian citizenship in 2020
There he reunited with his supportive wife, agent Robyn Gardiner, who once represented a host of Australia’s biggest stars including Oscar award winning actress Cate Blanchett, Anthony LaPaglia and Rose Byrne.
Hughes has been tracked down leading a low profile life in the English port city of Southampton, walking the streets hand-in-hand with his partner of 47 years, running errands and and visiting the nearby town of Basingstoke.
Robyn Gardiner (left)continues to stand by her husband, convicted paedophile Robert Hughes (right). They settling into a new life together in the UK after Hughes was released from jail
Despite trying to a low profile by disguising his identity under a cap, Hughes was tracked down and confronted by A Current Affair crews.
A stony-faced Hughes looked all of his 73 years and remained silent as he was bombarded with a series of questions of whether he was enjoying his newfound freedom and about his victims.
‘Mr Hughes, you always maintained you were a victim in all this – do you still maintain that?’ reporter Simon Bouda asked.
‘This is your chance to talk to us.’
Ms Gardiner, 71, recently assured NSW parole authorities she will keep him away from children when unsupervised.
Hughes and his wife also gave undertakings that once back in the community he will seek treatment with a clinical psychologist specialising in convicted sex offenders who deny their crimes to reduce his risk of re-offending.
Ms Gardiner has always defended and been in her husband’s corner and put up $50,000 when he was first granted bail after being extradited from the UK, where he was arrested in August 2012.
She was constantly by her husband’s side during his court appearances and his trial, often flanked by their daughter Jessica, who also lives in the UK and has two children of her own.
Ms Gardiner and their daughter gave evidence at Hughes’ trial in 2014, stating they had never seen him act inappropriately with children.
Hughes has always protested his innocence, despite being jailed for a maximum ten years and nine months with a non-parole period of six years.
‘I’m innocent’ he screamed in court after the jury found him guilty.
Robert Hughes (pictured with Robyn Gardiner) was trying to keep a low profile in the English port city of Southampton before he was tracked down by A Current Affair. The disgraced actor continues to protest his innocence
Former celebrity agent Robyn Gardiner still supports her Hey Dad! television star husband Robert Hughes who was jailed for molesting young girls. They are pictured with their daughter Jessica during his 2014 trial
After the verdicts Hughes’s then solicitor Greg Walsh said his client was a ‘broken man’ who would need to rely on Gardiner and Jessica ‘at this difficult time’.
‘They love each other very much,’ Mr Walsh said. ‘I sincerely hope that that bond can get him across the line.
Hughes was still on trial when his wife’s most famous client Cate Blanchett won the best actress Academy Award for her role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine in 2014.
‘To my agent in Australia, Robyn Gardiner, I love you so very much,’ Blanchett said in her acceptance speech.
The pair had been close since Ms Gardiner signed up then promising young performer graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) 12 years earlier in 1992.
Some of Ms Gardiner’s other star clients included four-time Gold Logie winner Lisa McCune, comedian Chris Lilley and radio personalities Amanda Keller and Andrew Denton.
Gardiner told Australian authorities at a previous that Hughes would be ‘surrounded by family and support’ upon his eventual release, according to prison sources.
Robyn Gardiner has always defended her husband Robert Hughes and was constantly by his side during his 2014 trial
It was recently revealed Hughes hid underneath a headscarf and a pair of sunglasses every time he would leave his cell when he was first jailed in 2014.
Hughes donned the ‘disguise’ after he’d received an horrific welcome to Goulburn Jail in 2014 when inmates launched milk cartons full of human waste towards him, covering him from head to toe.
As a result of the faeces experience inside Goulburn Jail in 2014, a wire screen dubbed ‘the Hey Dad! wall’ was put up to shield the actor from further projectiles.
He was later moved to Metropolitan Special Programs Centre at Long Bay.
It’s reported that in his final months behind bars Hughes ‘kept to himself’ and ‘didn’t really associate with anyone’.
He was released from his cell at 7am each day and would spend his time working or in the yard, walking around alone.
A jail source said that Hughes ‘would wrap his head in a scarf, put on a pair of sunnies and then put on a hat’.
‘He looked to be concealing his identity….He didn’t want anyone knowing who he was.’
Hughes was paid weekly for his work at a recycling job inside the jail.
This allowed him to purchase items from the ‘buy-ups scheme, including savory sweets, noodles, tinned food or newspapers.
Sources inside the jail stated that while Hughes had an ‘air of entitlement’ about him, he was well-behaved.
Robert Hughes (bottom left) was jailed in 2014 on 10 charges relating to sexual and indecent acts perpetrated on four young girls, including his on-screen daughter Sarah Monahan (bottom centre), in the 1980s and 1990s
Hughes renounced his Australian citizenship in 2020, becoming a non-lawful citizen requiring deportation upon release.
During his parole hearing the SPA said it had been satisfied that after eight years behind bars Hughes’ release was in the interests of the safety of the community.
Hughes, who starred as Martin Kelly in the TV comedy from 1987 to 1994, was previously rejected twice by the SPA.
Hughes was jailed in 2014 for 10 years and nine months with a non-parole period of six years, which expired in April 2020.
A jury found him guilty of 10 charges relating to sexual and indecent acts perpetrated on four young girls in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hughes continues to deny his crimes despite ‘overwhelming evidence’.
Victims including his former on-screen daughter Sarah Monahan, attended his third parole hearing held recently.
‘He’s an old man and he’s frail, but they don’t change, and he’s a denier,’ Ms Monahan said.
‘He still thinks he hasn’t done anything.’
Monahan now just wants to wipe Hughes from her life.
The SPA accepted expert evidence that Hughes (pictured, top left) was consistently assessed as a below-average risk of sexually reoffending
‘He will never say sorry and I’m fine with that. He’ll never say it. I’m not going to beg for it; I’m not going to ask for it,’ she told A Current Affair following the parole board’s recent announcement
‘There’s just been so much over so long and I guess it is now … it’s just … it’s over.’
‘This has consumed my entire life for the last 12 years, 14 years, so I guess I’ll have to find a new me now,’ she said.
‘I don’t want to be a victim anymore.’
Before his release, Monahan expressed fears Hughes may not be monitored closely enough.
‘I feel sorry for the kids in the UK,’ Monahan added.
‘It is kind of scary that there is that situation that he could be completely unmonitored.’
The SPA acknowledged the ‘profound and deleterious effects on the victims… continue to this day and will probably be lifelong consequences’.
‘It must be particularly galling for the victims to observe the offender’s continued and obstinate denials in the face of compelling and overwhelming evidence from multiple witnesses,’ it said.
The SPA accepted expert evidence that Hughes was consistently assessed as a below-average risk of sexually reoffending.
This prevented his accessing any sex-offender treatment programs while in custody.
Robert Hughes was moved to Metropolitan Special Programs Centre at Long Bay (pictured)
Judge Peter Zahra said that Hughes (pictured) ‘abused his position of trust and exploited the naivety and youth of the children’
Prior to his release, a psychologist prepared an unflattering report for the State Parole Authority.
It referred to Hughes ‘as a categorical denier who lacks victim empathy’.
Hughes made his third attempt at parole following two failed attempts. His minimum sentence of six years made him eligible for parole on April 6, 2020.
Judge Peter Zahra, who died suddenly last month, handed down the sentence with strong condemnation against Hughes.
‘He engaged in brazen predatory behaviour; he planned and orchestrated the occasions when the conduct occurred. His conduct was persistent and calculated,’ he said.
‘He abused his position of trust and exploited the naivety and youth of the children.
‘The profound and deleterious effects on the victims for many years, if not the whole of their lives. The victims here remain deeply disturbed by the conduct of the offender.’
Australian Border Force advised it will notify British authorities of Hughes’ imminent return.
‘The profound and deleterious effects on the victims for many years, if not the whole of their lives. The victims here remain deeply disturbed by the conduct of the offender,’ Judge Peter Zahra added
Hughes will be monitored in the UK under the Sexual Offences Act ‘notifications requirements’.
He must report to police within three days of his return to the UK, and once a year from then on and within three days of changing his details.
He will be required to provide passport and banking details and must notify police of any intention to travel out of the UK.
Hughes must also provide details of where he lives and where he regularly stays if different to his home address.
‘There is a requirement to notify police if he going to stay (for a period of at least 12 hours) at a household where a child is present,’ the parole authority noted.
He will be sent back to jail for up to six months if he fails to fulfil these conditions.
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