A notorious Selby man has been jailed for over 11 years for sexually assaulting a woman whom he also viciously attacked.
Mark Smith, 33, who has a litany of violent offences on his record, appeared for sentence after finally admitting assault by penetration and violence including assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He initially denied the offences but ultimately pleaded guilty in August on the day his trial was due to be held.
Prosecutor John Batchelor said the sexual assault was violent in nature and occurred in Selby.
Smith was arrested in March. He claimed that the sexual incident was consensual, but eventually owned up before a jury was sworn in for his trial.
The victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was in court to see him jailed and courageously read out her own victim-impact statement.
She said the sexual assault had left her with post-traumatic stress disorder and her personality had changed. She had suffered “severe mental trauma”.
Smith had 28 previous convictions for 57 mainly violent offences including one in which he bit a woman on the face. He had been in and out of prison for much of his adult life.
In 2019, he was jailed for 12 months at the same court for threatening police with a 2ft piece of wood studded with nails at a house in Selby.
Defence barrister Nick Murphy said that Smith now “accepts he has done wrong” and had “struggled” in prison while on remand awaiting sentence.
He said that Smith, whose family members were in the public gallery, wanted to move away from Selby when he was eventually released from the inevitable prison sentence.
Judge Simon Hickey said that Smith was a “dangerous” individual with a track record for violence.
He said that his record showed that “you are undoubtedly dangerous in the law’s eyes” which meant that an extended prison sentence was justified.
He described the sexual assault as a “degrading, humiliating and sustained incident” and said that Smith had caused the victim “significant” mental turmoil.
Smith was jailed for 11-and-a-half years and was told that, as a dangerous offender, he must serve an extended four-year period on licence upon his eventual release from prison.
He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life.