Mobile phone rapist jailed for 14 years

A rapist who used his mobile phone to film an attack on a woman has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Jon Leaver, 23, from Lancashire, attacked the 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after leaving a nightclub in Greater Manchester in February.

The court heard how Leaver recorded the attack on his mobile phone, so that he could send the images to his friends, but he was unaware that he had been caught on CCTV cameras.

In an attack described as “abhorrent” by Judge David Boulton, Leaver broke the woman’s jaw in two places.

Leaver, who has a tattoo on his stomach featuring a disfigured female face, was convicted of rape and causing grievous bodily harm at Liverpool Crown Court last month.

The rape happened on February 19 after Leaver left Barbarellas nightclub in Leigh with the woman, whom he had met at the club.

The pair had left the nightclub around 1:50am to get taxis home, but Leaver then walked the woman to a bus stop, where he pushed her against the wall and punched her. He then used his mobile phone to film himself performing a sex act on her.

At sentencing, Judge Boulton, described Leaver as “extremely dangerous to women” and said the “disturbing” tattoo, showed his “contempt for women”. He said: “The violence you used was extreme to the point of being sadistic and I wonder when I see the tattoo and I see what you did to that woman’s face whether you were attempting to obliterate a face.”

(KMcA/SP)