Birmingham Post

Brutal rapist who attacked two women gets life

- NAOMI DESOUZA Business Correspond­ent

A BIRMINGHAM rapist who moved between victims “in a matter of days” has been handed a life sentence for a string of chilling attacks.

Vile Curtis Hendrickso­n was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years for his shocking crimes, which saw one of his vulnerable victims seek help from a petrol station wrapped in just a shower curtain.

Hendrickso­n, aged 34, from Erdington, had pleaded guilty to 11 rapes and a charge of assault occasionin­g actual bodily harm, involving two victims at addresses when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court in September last year.

He has now appeared at Stafford Crown Court where he was handed life imprisonme­nt with a minimum of 20 years for his vile crimes.

Hendrickso­n boasted to one victim that he was a Birmingham gangster, and beat one woman so badly with a broom handle it broke.

He put a knife to the throat of his first victim and threatened to kill her after she had tried to signal for help at a fast food restaurant.

He was arrested after a second victim contacted police when she walked into a petrol station badly injured and wrapped only in a curtain on Christmas Day.

When police arrested Hendrickso­n he claimed he had “consensual sex” with the women.

Hendrickso­n’s chilling crimes were carried out in the space of a few weeks between November and December 2022. Both victims were vulnerable women who had problems with homelessne­ss and accommodat­ion. Hendrickso­n befriended the first victim after he tried to retrieve her mobile phone from a group who had stolen it from her, and also told her he was ‘part of a Newtown gang’.

Afterwards, they went back to his address where he raped her. On December 15, 2022, the woman was able to report Hendrickso­n’s abuse to the staff at her supported living accommodat­ion but by the time police arrived, he had gone.

He had then moved on to a second victim who, in an attempt to seek help, fled to a garage in the early hours of Christmas Day 2022 dressed only in a curtain and badly injured. She had been beaten so hard with a broomstick that it snapped.

Robert Mackinnon, adult abuse investigat­ion officer at Public Protection, said: “Hendrickso­n is a brutal rapist who showed total disregard for the two vulnerable women he targeted.

“He raped them both on a number of occasions and assaulted one so viciously that the broom handle broke when he beat her.

“We are delighted with the sentence. Hendrickso­n will serve a minimum of 20 years behind bars which will give him plenty of time to reflect on what he has done and the terrible impact of his crimes.”

 ?? ?? Curtis Hendrickso­n was handed life imprisonme­nt with a minimum of 20 years
Curtis Hendrickso­n was handed life imprisonme­nt with a minimum of 20 years

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