Wayne Hilton, 40, was led from Carlisle Crown Court with those words ringing in his ears after Judge Peter Hughes QC described how his crime wrecked a young woman’s life.
Hilton, from Ewanrigg Road, Maryport, denied rape but a jury convicted him after a trial.
The court heard how the victim had gone back to a friend’s house in Carlisle after drinking during a night out in the city on March 1 last year. Hilton was staying at the same house.
The woman, in her twenties, had gone to bed but woke up to find the defendant was having sex with her.
Despite her telling him to stop and trying to push him away, Hilton carried on. Traumatised, the woman had later turned to her mother for comfort.
The mother later recalled being with her daughter and seeing tears in her eyes.
“I walked up to her and she threw herself into my arms,” said the woman.
In court, Judge Peter Hughes QC spelled out the terrible consequences of the attack to the defendant, who claimed he respected the woman.
As Hilton sat impassively in the dock, the judge told him: “That suggestion of a high degree of respect was as far away from the truth as it’s possible to be.
“The reality is that you took cruel advantage of a young woman... when you knew – you simply had to have known – that she was in no fit state to consent to sexual activity.
“You raped her while she was lying in bed, either fast asleep or comatose from the effects of the drink she had taken.”
It had only been when a guest had come into the room for a second time to find out what was happening that Hilton stopped, said the judge.
Judge Hughes continued: “[The victim] will live for the rest of her life with the knowledge of what you did to her.
“What the long-term effects of that will be on her is incalculable...
“This was a traumatic experience. In her victim impact statement, she describes the effect that this incident has had on her.
“She says: ‘It’s ruined my life.’
“‘I am not the same outgoing, trusting person. I am anxious, scared, distrustful and unable to build relationships. It would take a lot of years to put the rape behind her," said the judge.
He noted that Hilton was sentenced by magistrates for three battery assaults on another woman the day after he committed the rape.
The defendant’s barrister David Traynor said Hilton, a factory worker, still denies rape.
Judge Hughes said that it was a worrying feature of the case that Hilton had been abusive to women on two occasions.
In addition to the eight-year jail sentence, Judge Hughes ruled that Hilton should be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and he imposed a restraining order which will prevent him from ever contacting the woman.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Sergeant Ginelle Ward, of Carlisle CID, said: “The victim is still dealing with the trauma caused by this terrible attack and receives support from victim support organisations.
"She has been extremely brave throughout the whole process and hopefully the sentence imposed will help her recovery.
“Make no mistake about this, Hilton did not gain consent from his victim and raped her. He has shown no remorse for his actions."
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