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A police officer who raped a woman he met on a dating website has been jailed for eight years.
PC Stuart Mines, 49, was off-duty when the attack took place at his home in Devon in October 2022.
Following his conviction by a jury following a trial at Exeter Crown Court he was sacked by Devon and Cornwall Police after more than 20 years’ service.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said she had suffered severe mental trauma following the rape and had been unable to work as a result.
“Emotionally, I’ve been a total wreck. I’ve spent endless nights unable to sleep, feeling worthless and violated by the actions of this horrid person,” she told the court.
“Mines has ripped my confidence away. Every time I hear a police siren, see a police car or a police officer, it has triggered panic and nausea, and has been and still is a constant reminder of what he has done.
“He completely destroyed my faith in men and the police force.
“How can someone in a position of trust who as a police officer, who should have integrity, respect, empathy, courage, fairness and accountability, do what he did as a police officer?
“As a man, he should have been trustworthy, law-abiding and morally respectful to women. He was none of these.
“I trusted him because he was a police officer, but he broke the law, he raped, lied and treated me with such disdain, being abusive and humiliating me whilst he laughed and thought it was funny, laughing at my distress.”
Kelly Scrivener, defending, said Mines had found being remanded into prison a difficult experience because of his policing career.
“The media coverage of the trial verdict meant that that the people he was placed alongside on that wing realised he was a police officer, now a former police officer,” she said.
“That identification has led to extra problems that have been managed successfully by the prison but continue to have to be managed because of threats and comments.”
Jailing Mines for eight years, Judge Stephen Climie said he had “torn apart” his victim’s life and said the attack had caused her significant harm.
“I have considered very carefully the extent to which the offence of rape was the primary trigger for many of the issues which are detailed in her victim personal statement,” he said.
“In my judgment, having watched and listened to her, I am satisfied that the impact of this event can be described as severe, some might go so far as to say even extreme.”
The judge said the offence was aggravated by the fact Mines was a serving police officer at the time.
“It is aggravated to an extent by virtue of the fact that you as a serving police officer at that time could and should have been somebody who, and I quote your victim, were capable of being described as somebody with integrity, respect, empathy, courage, fairness and accountability,” he said.
“In respect of accountability, you are now being held to account.
“In respect of other matters, I make it clear that, as with any walk in life, there may well be a bad apple or two within any given profession who as a result of their behaviour, attach a degree of blame to others within that role.
“Your conviction should not, in my judgment, in any way, shape or form, impact upon the integrity of the police generally, least of all, the Devon [and] Cornwall Constabulary, who do operate appropriately with integrity, respect, empathy, courage and fairness.”
The judge also placed Mines on the sex offenders’ register for life and imposed an indefinite restraining order not to contact his victim.