Robin Sanford

Robin Sanford was a villager from Ringstone, Wiltshire in England.

Sanford tried to enlist in the British Army during World War II when he was 18 years old but a heart condition prevented this. He needed pills to keep his condition stable. Instead, he was recruited as a private into the Home Guard.

On 21 March 1944, Sanford was part of the 14th Wiltshire (Ringstone) Battalion Home Guard under Sergeant Desmond Hughes, tasked with securing the test site of "Project Big Ben" in Ringstone. The experiment summoned a scorpion-like Wyrrester to Earth which slaughtered the assembled team. Sanford was held back from the battle by his heart condition. With very brief advice from the Twelfth Doctor and Charlie Bevan, Sanford shut down the experiment by shining a searchlight on the test site. The German Luftwaffe overhead were alerted and bombed the site, destroying the Bell, the Wyrrester and all the research notes. Sanford was one of only two survivors, the other being Professor Jason Clearfield. He never forgot the day all his friends died.

In his later years, Sanford made visits to the local school in Ringstone, giving talks to the pupils about his time in the Home Guard. However, the children and the rest of the village thought his stories about fighting giant insects during the war were preposterous. He was often teased and ridiculed and effectively ostracised by the other villagers.

In 2014, Ringstone was attacked by more giant insects and Wyrresters when Jason Clearfield attempted to run the wartime experiment again using the recovered Nazi Glocke. Sanford locked himself in his farm house, defending himself with a double-barrel shotgun. He explained his story to the Twelfth Doctor, Charlie Bevan and Kevin Alperton when they arrived while investigating the mystery. He looked after Kevin when the Doctor and Bevan pressed on, and assisted Captain Wilson and his men when they arrived later. He helped the younger soldiers hold out when the Wyrrester insects and enthralled villagers besieged the house, buying enough time for the Doctor to halt Clearfield's experiment. (PROSE: The Crawling Terror)