Locations
Gloucester Place, Peterlee, Durham, SR8
Description
A rapist who twice ignored a woman's pleas to stop her ordeal has been jailed for eight years.
Martin Hume refused to heed the victim's requests to end the assaults, during which she was in pain. Durham Crown Court heard she quickly made clear she did not want any sexual activity.
Prosecutor Paul Cleasby said in one instance, realizing he would not listen, she lay motionless as the attack continued.
Hume, 34, of Gloucester Place, Peterlee, denied two rape charges but was convicted by a jury on the fourth day of his August trial.
He appeared for sentencing via video link from HMP Durham, where he has been held since the August 21 verdicts.
The victim, with a family member, read her impact statement, telling Hume: “You have ruined me,” and describing her experiences as like “living in hell.”
She said she feared encountering him publicly before his conviction, sometimes entering a “state of panic” when out, and has undergone counselling for her “emotional distress.” But she added she is glad she had the courage to “speak up,” concluding: “The last thing I want to say is: ‘No means no’.”
Defense counsel Dan Cordey said in mitigation: “He accepts he will receive a custodial sentence of some length today. He was tried as a man of good character and is now facing his first custodial sentence. He had no experience of custody whatsoever.”
Cordey noted the trained welder has earned “trusted prisoner” status on remand and become a wing cleaner.
Judge Jo Kidd ordered Hume to serve two-thirds of the sentence before license eligibility. He faces an indefinite restraining order barring contact with the victim and must register as a sex offender “until further order.”