Martin Marko 35

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An "abusive and possessive" sexual predator is a "significant danger" to women everywhere, a court ruled.

Martin Marko, 35, subjected the terrified woman to three hours of horrific abuse after imprisoning her in his Seaforth Road flat in the early hours of August 15 last year. He threatened to kill her, forced her to strip, sexually assaulted her, brandished a kitchen knife in her face and beat her with a shoe. He also choked her, punched her, and threw a bowl full of urine at her.

The prolonged attack was caught on CCTV, in which the woman could be seen cowering and falling to her knees with her hands in a praying position. On two occasions she attempted to escape by climbing out of the first-storey window before returning to the locked flat, where Marko continued to abuse her.

Afterwards, he sent a slew of texts to the woman both apologising and threatening her as he tried to convince her to take back her report. He urged police officers to check the CCTV footage - in which his horrific crimes could clearly be seen.

He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, March 18, where he pleaded guilty to sexual assault, assault causing actual bodily harm, and making threats to kill.

Judge David Aubrey said: "Your victim was petrified and in fear to the extent she even contemplated escaping from your violence, from your threats, through a window of the flat, which I'm told was a first floor flat.

"In my judgement, you are an abusive and possessive person. You are demanding. You were treating your victim as a chattel, as an object. You were abusive to her. You degraded her.

"This case has been fully opened and if this sentence were ever to be reviewed elsewhere, then in my judgement it's absolutely essential that the footage is examined.

"You have a number of issues, but important in respect of these issues is how you treat women, and how you treated this particular victim. On this particular evening, over a protracted period of time, you were demeaning her, you were controlling her, you used violence. You had a knife in your hand on a number of occasions. You were brandishing that knife towards her face. You were threatening her with it. You were being abusive. You were gesturing towards her in a stabbing motion. On one occasion, you threatened to kill her.

"There she was in fear of you over a considerable period of time. She backed away. She was seen cowering in a corner. You threw a potty of urine over her. You hit her. You slapped her with a shoe. I have also had the opportunity of examining the injuries she received. And there came occasions when I have no doubt you were instructing her either to remove her top or her lower garments.

"In the aftermath you sent to her numerous texts, no less than 43, some of which were of a menacing nature, some of which may have been conciliatory. But your intention was to ensure that she didn't speak to the police. Fortunately, while you may be a coward, your victim is a courageous woman. She did make a statement to police. She didn't retract that statement, notwithstanding the pressure she was under from you.

"And then there was much victim blaming and much seeking to minimise that which you did. I return to that footage, which ironically came to this court because you had insisted on it being produced.

"The court accepts that you now show some remorse, but that remorse must be assessed against that which you said to the probation officer in seeking to blame your victim and minimise your culpability in what occurred under the influence of drink and/or drugs.

"There was much degradation. There was much humiliation. In my judgement, these offences occurred over a sustained period to time. There was violence. There were threats of violence. And your victim was particularly vulnerable.

"Your issues are deep rooted. Almost within your DNA is the domination and controlling of women. And so it's notwithstanding you're not highly convicted, and notwithstanding you have never come before the court for offences as serious as this. Everything I have seen from that footage, this court does find that you represent a significant risk of harm to the public, and in particular women."

He sentenced Marko, of Seaforth Road, Seaforth, to a 12-year extended sentence, ordering him to serve nine years in custody and an extended three years on licence. He also made a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman.