Rapist who forced victim to shower after attack jailed for 20 years

Judge Peter Benson said 28-year-old David Bell had shown “not a flicker of remorse” when he himself described the violent attack during his trial last month.

The judge branded Bell an extremely dangerous man as he jailed him and imposed an extended licence period of five years.

During the attack in Halifax last December Bell’s victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had her arm broken during the early stages of the violence, but he went on to repeatedly punch and kick her before raping her on a settee at her home.

Judge Benson highlighted the fact that Bell, of Savile Park Street, had targeted his victim that night and after raping her he had forced her to strip naked and take a shower in an attempt to get rid of any DNA evidence.

Bell, who had history of previous convictions for offences including aggravated house burglary, wounding and robbery, was found guilty following a trial at Bradford Crown Court of offences of rape, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and false imprisonment.

The court heard that following the attack his victim spent nearly a fortnight in hospital recovering from injuries including a punctured lung.

Judge Benson was told that the woman had been unable to return to her home following the rape.

He said Bell had “systematically beaten” his victim despite knowing he had already broken her arm.

“You have no remorse and no real concern for what you did,” the judge told Bell.

“You inflicted humiliation upon her in terms of forcing her to take a shower.”

At the time of the rape Bell had recently been released on licence from a 32-week jail term and the court heard that he had been committing crimes since he was just 11 years old.

“I am quite satisfied that you present a serious risk of harm to other people by the commission of further serious offences of violence and sexual violence,” the judge concluded.

Speaking after the sentences, Detective Inspector Gary Stephenson, of Calderdale CID, said: “We are pleased that Bell has received such as a substantial sentence for extremely serious crimes against his victim.

“I wish to commend the courage of the victim for not only disclosing these offences and telling officers what happened in subsequent police interviews but her bravery throughout the trial and hope that the sentence will help to give her some closure.

“Bell not only subjected his victim to a horrendous ordeal but put her through a court trial and now he has a considerable amount of time in jail to consider the consequences of his actions.

“We also hope it will encourage other victims of abuse to contact our specially trained officers, who will investigate all reports sensitively and thoroughly, with the aim of bringing offenders to justice.”