An exercise to help understand the extent of violence against women in the UK. All of the following have been taken from the BBC News site in the month of June 2007.
1 June 2007
A young woman was grabbed from behind and raped as she walked to the shops late at night.
The 22-year-old woman was attacked shortly after midnight as she walked to a local convenience store along Bailey’s Road in Portsmouth, Hampshire.
1 June 2007
A man with convictions for violent crimes has been jailed for life for repeatedly raping a woman he dragged off the street.
Fuelled by drink and drugs, Hassan Abdi forced the woman off the street in Southwark, south-east London into a nearby tower block.
Forensic evidence tied Abdi to the crime, Inner London Crown Court heard.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of rape and given six concurrent life sentences after January’s attack.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of robbery.
1 June 2007
A scouting volunteer who raped a 13-year-old girl and sexually assaulted a second teenager has been jailed.
Burnley Crown Court heard that Michael Drinkwater, 36, of Exchange Street, Accrington, Lancashire, did not believe he had done anything wrong.
The offences took place at the Bowley scout camp, Great Harwood, while he was a member of the Scouting Fellowship.
Judge Andrew Woolman said Drinkwater’s lack of remorse meant an indeterminate sentence, with a minimum of five years.
Drinkwater previously pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl.
He also admitted three counts of rape and one of sexual assault against the other 13-year-old, all of which were committed away from the camp site.
Miss Alexandra Simmonds, prosecuting, said all the offences took place between March 2005 and the end of 2006.
The sexual assault took place at the camp as both the 13-year-olds slept in a dormitory.
Miss Simmonds said: “Alcopops were on offer and the girls were dared to kiss and striptease.
“The defendant also brought a bag of sex toys to the camp.”
Mr Paul Humphries, defending, said his client attributed some of the initiation of the sexual acts to the girls and saw that he had done nothing wrong.
Judge Woolman told Drinkwater: “The pre-sentence report makes alarming reading.
“The conclusion is that apart from blaming the victims for being sexually precocious, you are asserting that you have not done anything wrong.
“So long as you have that attitude there is a risk of you committing the offences again and of causing serious psychological harm to others.”
2 June 2007
A 48-year-old man has been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of a woman in Hampshire.
Her body was found at a property in Brighton Hill in Basingstoke on 26 May.
A Hampshire Police spokesman said a post-mortem examination carried out on Friday revealed the woman, 48, died after being assaulted.
3 June 2007
A man has been charged with rape and a 13-year-old boy has been charged with a sex offence after an attack in Essex.
Lee Meikle, 26, a builder, from Southend, has been charged with raping a girl under 16 and sexual assault.
A 13-year-old boy from Westcliff has been charged with sexual touching of a female aged 13 or over. Both are due before Southend magistrates on Monday.
The charges relate to an incident that took place in the early hours of Saturday morning.
6 June 2007
The jury in the trial of a man accused of repeatedly raping a woman has returned a not proven verdict.
Clark Sutherland, 21, of Kintore in Aberdeenshire, denied attacking the 20-year-old at a flat in Aberdeen on New Year’s Day 2006.
The bar worker, who walked free from court, admitted having sex with her but lodged a special defence of consent.
The jury at the High Court in Aberdeen took less than two hours to return the verdict after a three-day trial.
It was claimed Mr Sutherland jumped on her bed while she slept and dragged her out from under the duvet before stripping her and repeatedly raping and abusing her in the early hours of 1 January, 2006.
During the trial, the court heard that the woman admitted she had kissed him a couple of times in the months leading up to the night.
She claimed she was left so terrified she has not had a boyfriend since.
6 June 2007
A man who raped a girl of six after snatching her from her bath has lost his bid to appeal against sentence.
Peter Voisey snatched the girl from her North Tyneside home, sexually abused her, then abandoned her in an alley.
The 35-year-old was found guilty of abduction, rape and sexual assault and sentenced to life, with a minimum tariff of 10 years in prison.
On Wednesday, London’s Court of Appeal ruled that he had “no arguable ground of complaint” against his term.
Voisey grabbed the girl from her ground-floor bathroom in Willington Quay on 27 December 2005.
He put his hand over her mouth and told her that if she made a noise she would never see her family again. Repeating the threats, he sexually assaulted her several times, then dumped the six-year-old naked and screaming in the snow-covered alley.
7 June 2007
A 62-year-old man has appeared in court over the death of his estranged wife.
Diane Ingram, 61, was found dead at her ground floor flat in Avon Road, Cannock, on 13 March. She had died from a stab wound to her neck.
Harold James Ingram, known as Jim, of Don Grove, Cannock, appeared before the town’s magistrates on Thursday charged with her murder.
The retired miner was remanded in custody to appear at Stafford Crown Court on 15 June.
7 June 2007
A teenage boy arrested on suspicion of raping a 13-year-old girl in a park has been released on bail.
The girl was attacked after getting off a bus on Lostock Road in Urmston, Greater Manchester on 29 May.
Police say she began talking to a man when she got off the bus and walked with him along Canterbury Road, towards Davyhulme Park, where she was raped.
The 17-year-old boy was arrested after going to police on Tuesday, but later released pending further inquiries.
8 June 2007
Items of clothing believed to belong to a woman found murdered in woods in Hertfordshire have been discovered on the M1 motorway, police have said.
Kate Beagley’s body was found on Monday morning at Oxhey Woods, near Watford.
The 32-year-old, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, died from multiple stab wounds according to a post-mortem examination.
Karl Joseph Taylor, 27, of Covent Garden, London, has been charged with murder and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on 11 September.
Surrey Police said formal identification of the body had been delayed to allow for dental records to be checked.
The sales manager disappeared after going on a date in London on 30 May.
11 June 2007
Almost 8,000 sex offenders have been cautioned across England in the past five years, rather than being charged.
Offences involving children accounted for more than 1,600 of the cautions, while more than 240 were for rape.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said a caution would be given only if it was the most appropriate course of action.
Acpo said a caution did not mean the offender was being “let off” as it still brought a criminal record and a caution for a sex crime would also see the offender placed on the sex offenders register.
Crimes dealt with by a caution included offences as varied as rape, downloading child porn, bigamy, exploitation of prostitution, indecent exposure, sexual offences against animals, sexual grooming and familial sex offences (incest).
Of the offences against children dealt with by a caution, more than 350 were cases involving a victim aged under 13.
11 June 2007
A 59-year-old man has appeared in court to deny murdering his wife.
Derek Smith, appeared at Luton Crown Court via a video link from Bedford prison, accused of the murder of his wife Carolyn, 40, on 24 January 2007.
She died from multiple stab wounds after being found at a house in Stanmore Road, Stevenage.
There was no application for bail and Mr Smith was remanded in custody. He is expected to stand trial in December this year.
11 June 2007
A 13-year-old girl was raped by a man who befriended her and her friend in a West Yorkshire park, police said.
The two girls, aged 13 and 16, had been in Northcliffe Park, Shipley, when two men approached them on Sunday evening.
The men sat with the girls for a short time before one forced the 13-year-old into nearby bushes where he raped her.
She suffered minor injuries and was left “very distressed”, police said. The 16-year-old was not injured in the incident.
Police said the second man restrained the other girl while the attack took place.
12 June 2007
Detectives investigating the rape of an 18-year-old who was attacked as she walked home after a night out have made a fresh appeal for the public’s help.
The young woman was attacked in an alley which links Mill Street and Belmont in Wantage, Oxon last Friday.
The attacker was white, in his early 40s, and wore a dark jumper and jeans.
12 June 2007
A hospital worker has been convicted of assaulting a teenager in a sex attack he copied from an internet site.
Carley Furness, 17, was saved by emergency surgery after being stabbed in the throat and stomach by 28-year-old Peter Anscombe.
He assaulted her as she walked to work through a park in Orpington, south-east London, last September.
The court heard Anscombe sexually assaulted Miss Furness before a female passer-by chased him off.
The prosecution alleged that Anscombe tried to rape the teenager after reading a similar pornographic story on the internet.
Anscombe, who lived with his parents in Orpington, was described as a family man who had never been in trouble before.
Four days earlier before he assaulted Miss Furness, he had attacked a 39-year-old woman in a shopping centre car park in Bromley, south-east London.
He was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sexual assault on Miss Furness and assault on the other woman.
After his arrest, Anscombe’s computer and two laptops were found to contain a number of stories and images of rape and sexual violence.
Det Insp Bryan Davidson said: “We can only be grateful that Anscombe was so quickly identified and arrested.
“It appears that, after a long time fantasising about attacking women, he was beginning to put thoughts into action. I dread to think what he would have gone on to do next.”
13 June 2007
A 14-year-old boy has been charged at Belfast Youth Court with raping two 10-year-old girls.
The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was also charged with committing an act of gross indecency against one of the girls.
14 June 2007
A 45-year-old male babysitter who forced a young girl to watch pornographic videos before he abused her has been jailed for 11 years.
Chef Brian Symons, of St Mary’s Street, Plymouth, repeatedly forced the six-year-old to take part in sex acts with him after befriending her parents.
The abuse went on for months and only came to light when the girl was older.
Symons denied the abuse but was found guilty of two rapes and five indecent assaults at Plymouth Crown Court.
He was cleared of sexual assaults against a second girl.
Judge Paul Darlow said: “These charges represent samples in most cases of your sexual behaviour to a young girl who was aged between six and eight.
Mr Jonathan Barnes, prosecuting, earlier told a jury that Symons made the girl watch a pornographic video before the assaults.
Mr Anthony Donne, defending, said the assaults had not caused serious physical injury.
14 June 2007
The family of a young girl whose rape was aided by a County Kerry priest have said they were left “deeply “traumatised” by the affair.
Jeremiah McGrath, 63, who also worked in Fermanagh, gave thousands to paedophile William Adams to help groom the 12-year-old for sex.
McGrath got a five-year sentence for what relatives called “heinous” crimes.
The family said their trust had been broken by the “evil” priest, who was a friend and visitor to their home.
Adams, 38, originally from Belfast, was given a life sentence after pleading guilty to rape and abuse of the child.
The judge ordered that he serve a minimum of seven years and six months.
14 June 2007
A pensioner has been told to expect a jail sentence when he is sentenced for raping a schoolgirl.
John Bridgewater, 76, from Victoria, central London, targeted the girl after helping her parents look after her.
London’s Southwark Crown Court heard he forced her to have sex just before her 16th birthday and shortly after it.
Bridgewater had repeatedly insisted the girl had consented to sex but the jury decided he was lying and convicted him on two counts of rape.
The jury were unable to reach verdicts on two further indecent assault allegations and one of rape.
Fiona Horlick, prosecuting, had told the court that as well as Bridgewater suggesting he film his victim having sex with other men, he also attempted to seduce a second young girl by showering her with cigarettes and money.
The court also heard he made sexual remarks to a third girl he plied with alcohol.
15 June 2007
Detectives investigating the rape of a 36-year-old woman in Oldham have arrested a man.
The woman was walking home along Manchester Road, Werneth, on Tuesday after a night out when a man asked her for a light for a cigarette.
Police said he asked her to go to his house but when she refused he pushed her against a wall and raped her.
A 21-year-old man, from Chadderton, has been arrested on suspicion of rape and is currently in police custody.
15 June 2007
Ronald Johnson, 53, a prison officer of Thrumpton near Retford, was convicted of murdering his wife Sue, 49, at Nottingham Crown Court.
Judge Michael Stokes ordered Johnson to serve a minimum of 12 years.
In sentencing Judge Stokes said: “This is a tragic case… you are not a bad man but you did a very bad thing.
The court heard Johnson bludgeoned Sue, a doctor’s receptionist, to death with a claw hammer and stabbed her after she started an affair with taxi driver Saad Elembaby.
Peter Joyce, defending, said the former miner’s actions were a result of the “turmoil, pain and anguish into which he was cast”.
He said the defendant had been left humiliated and “utterly rejected” by his wife and two daughters who, he claimed, colluded with their mother to allow her to continue with the affair.
The final straw was hearing her say she was moving with her lover to Cyprus - the country to which the couple had been planning for several years to retire.
18 June 2007
Grampian Police has the lowest rape conviction rate in Scotland, according to newly-released figures.
Grampian’s conviction rate for 2005/06 was just under 1%, with Northern Constabulary having the highest rate at almost 9%.
There were 975 reported rapes in Scotland in that period, with 38 convictions, a rate of almost 4%.
18 June 2007
Police have launched a manhunt after a woman was raped on a Glasgow filling station forecourt at the weekend.
The 30-year-old woman had left a club in Sauchiehall Street and was sitting on a wall at the BP station in Elmbank Street in the city centre.
A man grabbed her from behind and dragged her to the corner of the forecourt where she was raped.
19 June 2007
A man attempted to rape a woman outside a West Yorkshire university building, police have said.
Officers said the woman, a staff member at Leeds Metropolitan University, was sitting in an outbuilding when she was approached on Sunday night.
A man entered the outbuilding, off Churchwood Avenue, and attempted to rape her.
The woman raised the alarm, and the man ran away. She was taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries.
19 June 2007
A teenage girl was raped on a popular route across common land between Ash and Aldershot, in Hampshire, on 21 May. The 16-year-old victim was raped at about 1600 BST on 21 May.
20 June 2007
A 31-year-old man has been arrested over the rape of a student in the Fallowfield area of Greater Manchester.
The 21-year-old woman was attacked in the early hours of 11 May after a night out celebrating the end of her exams.
20 June 2007
Police have said they have had a “very good response” from the public as they continue to search for three men who raped a teenage girl at the weekend.
The 16-year-old was going to a club in Strabane when she was accosted by three men. They took her away and two held her down while the third raped her.
21 June 2007
Police are reviving an appeal for information a year after a teenage girl was raped during the Royal Highland Show on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
The 17-year-old victim was making her way from the Young Farmers Disco to a caravan in the North Car Park when she was attacked by a man who subjected her to a serious sexual assault.
The suspect is white, aged between 20 and 25 years old, and had a shaved head and a line shaved into his right eyebrow.
21 June 2007
A man has been charged with kidnap, rape and assault following a sex attack in a Kent park.
A 21-year-old woman was seriously sexually assaulted at knifepoint at Capstone Farm County Park in the early hours of Sunday.
On Wednesday, Kent police charged Mark Forey, 44, of Scott Avenue, Rainham, with the kidnap, rape and assault of a woman.
21 June 2007
A man who raped a woman while on bail for another rape has been told he will not be released from jail until a parole board says it is safe.
Brett Kaminski, 34, raped the first woman, aged 18, at his Hertfordshire flat after she had fallen asleep.
A month later he raped a 19-year-old girl in an alleyway in Cheshunt town centre, Hertfordshire.
Kaminski, of Wheatcroft, Cheshunt, was given an indeterminate sentence and will be on licence for life.
21 June 2007
A valet who admitted raping a drunken woman as she slept in a limousine has been jailed for seven years.
Mansour Asakereh, 33, of Ibeson Road, West Hampstead, north London, attacked the woman when she was dropped off at the hire car depot where he worked.
London’s Southwark Crown Court heard the 33-year-old victim woke up a few minutes later with him on top of her.
Passing sentence, Judge John Price told Asakereh: “This was an appalling, painful stranger rape.
“You took advantage of a woman, who had taken a substantial amount of drink… I regard this as an extremely appalling piece of behaviour.”
In an impact statement read to the court the woman said the ordeal had “completely ruined my life”.
“I had a good job, well-paid, in London, was happy and successful, and in a stable relationship.”
She said she had spent 19 weeks in a mental hospital, has had to give up work, move home and leave her childhood sweetheart.
“It drove me to a complete mental breakdown… I only sleep two hours a night - the flashbacks are horrendous,” she said.
22 June 2007
A 40-year-old man has been charged with rape and is to appear in court in County Down at the weekend.
The man has been charged with a number of other offences, which include indecent assault and making threats to kill.
It is understood the charges relate to a number of incidents against a single victim in the Armagh area.
22 June 2007
A mother has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her part in the gang rape of her young daughter and another girl.
Caroline Dunsmore was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh for overseeing 10 years of abuse of Dana Fowley, now 27, and a second victim.
John O’Flaherty was sentenced to 13 years for his role.
The judge said he was minded to give a life sentence to a third person, Morris Petch, on whom sentence was deferred. Ms Fowley has waived her anonymity.
Outside the court on Friday, Ms Fowley said she still loved her mother.
She said: “Of course I realise that my mother had to be brought to justice, but as a daughter I love her and when I heard her getting sentenced today I was gutted.
“I was totally gutted with what my mum was given, but at the end of the day it was a justified sentence. It was a victory, all of the sentences that were handed out.” During the trial, the court heard how the children were subjected to frequent sexual abuse.
The offences took place in the Pilton area of Edinburgh over several years and began when the girls were under the age of 10.
The abuse was orchestrated by Billy King, who was married to Dunsmore, 43, and who is now deceased.
Dunsmore had previously pleaded guilty to several rape charges and to abusing Ms Fowley between 1987 and 1995 when she was aged six to 15, while acting with King.
O’Flaherty, 50, admitted having sex with the same girl at least 12 times and was jailed for 13 years.
Petch, also 50, was taken into custody after failing to turn up for sentencing last month. He will now be sentenced in August.
Judge Lord Malcolm told Dunsmore that “over many years, you participated fully in a paedophile group”.
He added that the abuse had caused Ms Fowley “very serious damage”.
“You took no steps to remove her from that situation,” said the judge, who told the court that he had taken account of Dunsmore’s own deprived background and history of being sexually abused.
Sentencing O’Flaherty, Lord Malcolm said: “You repeatedly were prepared to take advantage of this young child to satisfy your deviant desires and it’s clear from the reports you have no real remorse or understanding for the damage caused by your conduct.”
He added that O’Flaherty had instead sought to avoid personal responsibility for the offences by blaming others.
The massive paedophile ring still continues to be investigated.
Police recently revealed they have identified three more men, aged between 40 and 65, whom they believe were also involved in the abuse.
Another three men, including King, and a woman died before any charges could be brought against them.
22 June 2007
Detectives investigating the rape of a woman as she walked along a footpath are examining CCTV footage to see if there are any images of the attacker.
Police said the 20-year-old woman was on a footpath that leads on to Northampton Racecourse on Wednesday night when she felt a man touch her.
He forced her into the town centre park where he raped her, police added.
The man was white, aged in his early 20s, about 5ft 10in, of medium build and he had short dark hair and stubble.
22 June 2007
A burglar who broke into a 60-year-old woman’s home with an accomplice raped her before fleeing with her money.
Police are interviewing the woman, who lives in Lakenheath, Suffolk, to discover exactly what happened.
The attacker was described as about 40, of big build, 6ft tall with a round face, dark hair and large ears.
22 June 2007
A navy chief petty officer found guilty of raping a female colleague on a warship has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Phillip Coates, from Devon, was jailed for five years in March after being found guilty of raping the woman at a barbecue on board a warship at sea.
The 30-year-old had also been dismissed from the service by the court martial panel at Portsmouth’s HMS Nelson.
But three judges in London ruled that his conviction was unsafe.
The court martial had been told that the woman admitted kissing Coates prior to the alleged incident in the Mediterranean between 8 and 9 March last year.
But she insisted she had not consented to sex.
22 June 2007
A 19-year-old woman was raped in an alleyway by a man she had spent the evening talking to in a bar.
The attack happened at about 0330 BST on Tuesday next to the Global Cafe in London Street, Reading, Berkshire.
The woman had been in the Brannigans pub with friends when she began talking with a group of men.
She left with one of them who then dragged her into the alleyway. He is described as white, in his late teens, with dark hair and of medium build.
22 June 2007
A man jailed for raping and battering an A-level student to death must serve at least 20 years behind bars, the High Court has ruled.
Colin Waite, 46, of Birmingham, killed Nicola Dixon in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, as she walked to a party on New Year’s Eve 1996.
DNA finally linked him with the case six years later and he was jailed for life in November 2003.
Mr Justice Davis said he was a large and powerful man who accosted Nicola on the street and took her into the grounds of an unoccupied house.
“Considerable force was used upon her, causing her severe internal head and brain injuries which would have rendered her unconscious.
“He then left her lying half-naked in the snow,” he said.
He added Waite had a record for violence including a serious attack on a girlfriend in 1997.
Aggravating features of the case included the fact that he found a victim much younger than himself, whom he could overpower, and that he used the severest form of violence on her, the judge added.
“In my view this was offending of the gravest type and clearly merited a significant minimum term,” he said.
22 June 2007
“A drug addict who robbed and raped women at knife-point was brought to justice by the “considerable bravery” of one teenage victim, a court heard.
Nnamdi Onwuzo, 22, of Back Hamilton Place, Leeds, admitted robbery and rape and was given a minimum of five years.
The court heard he attacked two women in their 20s in separate incidents in Lovell Park, Leeds, in February.
He was caught when one of his robbery victims, a 14-year-old girl, saw him later in the street and called police.
Onwuzo’s two rape victims, aged 23 and 26, were attacked at knifepoint on 4 and 11 February in Lovell Park as they walked home after nights out in the city centre.
Onwuzo pleaded guilty to robbing the girl.
Awarding £150 to the 14-year-old, the judge said: “This series of offences was undoubtedly brought to an end by her ability to help the police.
He said the money was not to compensate her but “to encourage those who can help in the way she did to help in the way she did”.
Speaking outside court to BBC’s Look North one of his rape victims, who cannot be identified, said she hoped Onwuzo’s jail sentence would help him.
She said: “From my point of view, I would have been happy with almost anything if I thought that somebody would be intervening psychologically with him while he’s in custody.
“I’d like to think that someone can make a person out of him again. But if I think he’s playing ping-pong for five years and then they let him out, that would upset me.”
23 June 2007
A 34-year-old man has been remanded in custody at Belfast Magistrates Court charged with raping his niece.
The man, who cannot be identified to protect his alleged victim, is charged with raping the 19-year-old on a date between 20 and 23 June 2007.
25 June 2007
An artist’s impression of a man police want to trace in connection with the rape of a woman has been released.
The 20-year-old woman was on a footpath that leads to Northampton Racecourse on 20 June when a man forced her into the park and attacked her.
Det Ch Insp John Jones said: “This artist’s impression has had a profound effect on the victim so I am convinced this is a very good likeness.”
The man was white, aged in his 20s, 5ft 10in, with short dark hair.
25 June 2007
A man has appeared in court charged with the abduction and rape of an 11-year-old girl in Lancashire.
Justin Widdop, 27, is accused of two counts of rape and an additional charge of kidnap and false imprisonment with intent to commit a sexual offence.
26 June 2007
Three million more crimes are committed in England and Wales every year than Home Office figures indicate, according to a report by a think tank.
Civitas says the British Crime Survey is failing to accurately record the experiences of repeat victims of crime.
That survey puts a limit of five on the number of times a victim can be targeted by the same offender.
The survey, based on interviews with 40,000 householders, has long been considered by ministers to be the most reliable of crime indicators.
It is already known to exclude drug offences, crimes against businesses and crime against children under 16.
Criminologists Professor Graham Farrell and Professor Ken Pease said crime control, police training and criminal justice were being substantially misdirected as a result of the five-crime cap.
“If the people who say they suffered 10 incidents really did, it is capping the series at five that distorts the rate,” the authors said.
“The reality is that some people are very frequently victimised, and that frequent victimisation is what they suffer rather than being an invention or exaggeration.”
They calculated that if the cap was ignored, 14 million crimes - not 11 million - were committed every year.
*The report estimated that domestic violence was 140% higher than the British Crime Survey suggests (from 357,000 to 857,000) *
26 June 2007
A soldier who posed as a plumber to rape a scientist in her home has been told he faces a long prison sentence.
Hameed Mubarak, 29, from Paddington, west London, admitted raping a 35-year-old woman in her north London flat in February.
Mubarak threatened to kill the woman with a pair of scissors, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Judge John Price said: “The sentence for this stranger rape, for that is what it was, will be a long one.”
Mubarak, a member of the United Arab Emirates army, had only been in Britain for a few weeks when he launched the early morning attack.
He tried to bluff his way into the woman’s flat twice without success, but returned a third time. As soon as she opened the door he forced his way in.
He dragged her towards an open window in her bedroom, leaving her convinced he was going to throw her to her death.
Mubarak then held a pair of scissors to her throat and warned her if she did not submit he would kill her immediately.
After he had raped her, Mubarak dragged her into the shower in an apparent bid to destroy any DNA evidence before he fled.
However, a trace of his DNA was found on a bottle of water Mubarak drank from at the flat and he had been filmed by CCTV cameras.
26 June 2007
Children’s charities have reacted with anger after a window cleaner who raped a girl of 10 was jailed for two years.
Keith Fenn, 24, will be free in four months after a judge said the girl, who was assaulted in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, had appeared older.
Oxford Crown Court heard that Fenn raped the girl in a park on 14 October, before an accomplice, Darren Wright, 34, took her home and sexually assaulted her.
Judge Hall said in sentencing he faced a moral dilemma as the fact they had sex within 45 minutes of meeting was an absolute crime.
But he said the girl had dressed provocatively and looked as though she was 16.
Lawyers for the defendants stressed that the sex had been consensual, and was only termed ‘rape’ because of the framework of law.
They said the judge stated that doctors who examined the girl believed she was in her mid-teens and she was treated by most people as older than her actual age.
The judge gave Fenn concurrent two-year and 18-month sentences, but he will be free in eight weeks after serving eight months in prison awaiting sentence.
Wright is already free as Judge Hall had already given him a nine-month sentence for inciting the girl to perform a sex act.
28 June 2007
A Polish law student has pleaded not guilty to raping and assaulting a woman in Exeter.
The victim, a 48-year-old, was found unconscious in Redhills Close in the Whipton area of the city on 22 July 2006.
Jakub Tomczak, from Posnan in Poland, was committed for trial at Exeter Crown Court. He denies committing rape.
The 24-year-old also denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Judge Graham Cottle remanded him in custody.
28 June 2007
Detectives investigating the rape of a 16-year-old girl have spotted a man running away from the scene on CCTV footage provided by local businesses.
The man fits the description of the rapist, who attacked the girl on the borders of Ash in Surrey and Aldershot, Hampshire, on 21 May.
28 June 2007
A handyman who admitted the rape and attempted murder of a 38-year-old woman whose throat he slashed with a hunting knife has been jailed for life.
The woman was walking her dog in Aldershot, Hampshire, when Robert Bridges attacked her.
Winchester Crown Court had heard that when the victim tried to flee, Bridges cut her windpipe and left her for dead.
Bridges, 47, from Farnborough, was jailed for life and will not be considered for parole for 16 years.
The judge said he may never be released as he presents a substantial danger to women
29 June 2007
A Teesside man who raped a 13-year-old girl has been jailed for six years.
Balwinder Singh was arrested after his victim went to a teacher appointed to deal with pupils’ problems, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The 36-year-old of Coleton Gardens, Ingleby Barwick, pleaded guilty to rape and sexual activity with a child.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life. The hearing heard how the girl had been too scared to tell her mother about Singh.
29 June 2007
A man has been charged with murder after the body of a woman was found in a car roof box in a Brighton garden.
Unemployed Andre Paul Genestin, 48, of Maresfield Road, has been remanded in custody and will appear before Brighton magistrates on Saturday.
The body has been formally identified as Mr Genestin’s wife Catherine, 37, also of Maresfield Road.
29 June 2007
Posters of a man who secretly filmed women are to be put up around Torbay to try to stop him offending in future.
Raymond Rowland, 41, was given a 10-year Asbo, banning him from photographing or filming women without their permission.
Posters will be put up in car parks where Rowland asked women to start his car while he worked on the engine, then filmed the lower half of their bodies.
Videos seized by police showed images of more than 100 women.
These reports represent only a small fraction of the terrorism that women are subjected to in the UK by men. Anyone else feeling sick?
