A 40 year old York man is starting a long prison sentence after being found guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault on women and children.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty after an eight day trial by jury at York Court of a long list of charges including sexual activity with a child, five counts of rape, four counts of assault by penetration of a child under the age of 13, and two counts of unlawful wounding.
When appearing in court for sentencing, the man caused such a commotion he had to be taken away.
Police officers surrounding the 40 year old in the dock wore trainers, in case he tried to flee court altogether.
He repeatedly swore and tried to escape before Judge Morris ordered that he was taken to custody and sentenced in absentia.
The court heard how the man, who was the sole carer to his two daughters, started a relationship with a girl who he had sex with whilst she was under 16.
As the relationship continued, he was violent to her, he bullied and raped whilst she was pregnant.
He even forced her to move to an area near York away from her friends and family, so she had no support nearby.
The court heard how the man raped his girlfriend whilst she was injured and couldn’t use her legs to fight him off. The relationship broke down when he was sent to prison in 2018 for four years, for his violence against her and their children.
The police investigation into the rapes took place during the last few years whilst the man was in prison.
It emerged that he had also sexually abused his eight-year-old daughter.
His daughter is now 10 years old and said in a statement: “I’ve never had a good relationship with my dad. He was always shouting.
“When he abused me I didn’t know what was happening. I told an adult. I would have been happier if he admitted what he did then I wouldn’t have had to come to court.”
Previous partner
This led the police to talk to the girl’s mother, who was the man’s previous partner. She was particularly vulnerable and struggled with drug addiction.
She was horrified to hear her ex partner and father to their two children had abused their daughter. She told the police that when they split up she had no home to go to at first and so her ex partner had kept custody of their children.
She said he had been abusive to her for six years and he wore her down physically and mentally.
“He would tell people I was crazy. He raped me. He threatened to kill me unless I withdrew my complaint (about the rape).
“After our relationship fell apart, the two girls lived with him. When he met his new partner, she at first brought them to see me. Then they stopped coming.
“I started using drugs again. I had a mental breakdown.” The court heard how, after one rape, the woman fled their home and ended up in hospital for treatment.
Defending the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, barrister Timothy Jacobs asked the judge not to hold his shouting and swearing in the dock against him.
The man didn’t accept his guilt, and he was emotional and anxious and hadn’t slept the night before court. The man had a long history of drug abuse and that led him to lose control.
His barrister told the court that the man is determined to change and that whilst he’s been in prison he has completed a drug recovery programme.
But Judge Morris told the man that he had behaved in an identical way to his two ex partners, degrading them of their confidence and self worth, isolating and manipulating them.
He was violent and raped both women. Summing up, Judge Morris said: “When you wanted sex you had sex, irrespective of your partners’ wishes. Then you started on your own daughter.
“Who knows where this would have gone if the police hadn’t become involved.”
Judge Morris said he couldn’t add up the prison terms for each crime because the man would be incarcerated for far too long. Instead he handed down prison sentences for each crime with some of them running concurrently. The total term amounted to 25 years.
The man will be on the Sex Offender’s Register for life.