Belfast Man Guilty Of Early Morning Rape

In the same day it emerged that an alleged sex offender has been ordered to leave Londonderry, a 21-year-old man has been found guilty of raping a Belfast woman as she slept.

According to the head of the Derry's District Policing Partnership the man is one of four who were each told to get out by men claiming to be 'dissident' republicans.

According to the BBC, Councillor Shaun Gallagher condemned the death threat, and said the allegation had not been proven.

"No paramilitary group has the right under any circumstances to judge anybody," he said.

"This kind of event, and this kind of crime, needs proper investigation by properly trained officers in the police."

Meanwhile, in Belfast, Anthony West, of Meadowbank Street, who had claimed he had consensual sex with the victim - who was a teenager at the time last November - has been found guilty of rape.

West had earlier called to her house where she made him a cup of tea in the kitchen but after he went away, he left the back door unlocked, returned later, and after scaling a wall, he sneaked through her house before attacking her.

Giving evidence to the jury at Belfast Crown Court, the woman, who cannot be identified to protect her identity, said she had come home from a party and was in bed when West first called to her house.

She said she had spurned his advances and sent a text message to her friend expressing her relief she had managed to get rid of him.

The jury was told she went back to bed but woke up sometime later to find West raping her.

(BMcC)