Man jailed for 1982 rape of woman

A 55-year-old man was jailed for 13 years today for the "degrading" rape of a teenager committed 29 years ago.

Philip Andrew, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, was arrested in March last year after he was linked using DNA evidence taken from the crime scene.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court to an offence of buggery.

The charge relates to the rape of a 19-year-old woman in Southsea on July 2, 1982.

Sentencing Andrew, Judge Ian Pearson said that he would have jailed him for nine years but added a further four years because he remained a dangerous threat to women.

He said of the attack: "Quite clearly you were revelling in the pain and suffering you were going to inflict on her."

Christopher Stoppa, prosecuting, described how the victim was walking home from a nightclub at about 2am when Andrew jumped on her from behind and marched her bent double to a secluded spot.

Before assaulting her, he said to his victim: "If you don't scream, I won't hurt you."

Mr Stoppa said: "She feared she wasn't going to survive the attack. It was sheer terror she was feeling at that point.

"The pain was of such intensity she lost consciousness."

He added that when she reported the rape to police, the victim was treated poorly by officers.

He said: "In a sorry reflection of attitudes at the time, she was asked if she was a Tom or a prostitute and reminded of the cost from the public purse of calling out a doctor if she was wasting police time."

A short time after the attack, the victim spotted Andrew in the street and he was arrested.

But he was released after he gave police an alibi.

He was then arrested last year after Hampshire Constabulary carried out forensic testing on DNA swabs taken from the victim.

The test, carried out as part of a cold case review, found a one-in-a-billion match to Andrew's DNA.

Mr Stoppa said that the victim, who now lives in the Grimsby area, had suffered long-term psychological effects from the attack.

He said that she had trouble sleeping in the dark and was "frightened for years he would come back".

The victim, who burst into tears as she heard the details of the offence, said of the sentence after the hearing: "That's brilliant, absolutely fantastic news."

The court heard that Andrew was jailed for four years in 1978 for buggery.

This related to the rape of a woman in a chalet at Butlins, Bognor Regis, during which he tied his victim's hands behind her back with a belt and said to her: "You made a big mistake tonight, if you make a sound I will kill you."

In 1970, at the age of 14 he was convicted of indecent assault of a girl under 14 and, in 2001, he was convicted of possessing indecent photos of children.

In 1995, he was convicted of burglary with intent to rape in which he stole the keys to a woman's home, let himself in and pulled a pillow over her head in the attempted attack.

He had also been convicted of making obscene phone calls in the 1970s and has been convicted of numerous theft offences, the court heard.

As well as the prison sentence, Andrew was ordered by Judge Pearson to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Richard Button, defending, said that his client, who suffered from a sociopathic personality disorder, had admitted putting his victim through a "painful, degrading ordeal".

He added: "He feels great shame, he feels sick at what he has done."

In a statement released through police, the victim said: "It was a warm summer night in July 1982, whilst I was walking home from a night out, I was brutally attacked. I was just 19 years old.

"Feeling violated and dirty my whole life was shattered.

"Twenty-eight years of mental torture and nightmares, 28 years of never trusting anyone, basically 28 years of hell.

"I have a lot of bitterness and anger because he had no right to do that to me.

"Part of me died that night and I can never have that back.

"To other victims, no matter how long ago it was, never give up hope."