Rapist addicted to porn is caught after leaving bubblegum near victim
A DEPRAVED sex addict attacked a series of lone women in a case which demonstrates the corrosive nature of online pornography, a court heard.
Ilija High – who admitted watching repulsive pornography most days – subjected his victims to terrifying ordeals because he thought some women would have a fetish for sex with a stranger.
He attacked two women and a girl aged 14 in just over a year. His reign of terror ended after Derbyshire police found a piece of pink bubble gum he had thrown into a rubbish bin near the scene of one attack.
DNA from it helped them establish that the same man had carried out all three attacks, but as High was not on the DNA database he remained at large.
However, after an artist’s impression of a man in a hooded top and sunglasses – drawn with the help of one of High’s victims – was distributed on 40,000 leaflets, someone came forward to name him.
Police called at his home to collect a DNA sample but he handed himself in the next day before it was processed. He told officers: ‘I am here to confess to three crimes, two sexual assaults and one rape.’
Yesterday High, 23, was jailed for 22 years at Derby Crown Court.
He admitted seven sexual crimes against his three victims including rape, as well as possessing indecent images and extreme pornographic images.
Judge Robert Egbuna said High’s ‘copycat offending’ came after he watched material depicting violent, unconsenting sex. He added: ‘Your predication for watching depraved material led you to attack in the most devastating manner.’
Clive Stockwell, prosecuting, said High had ‘corrupted fantasies’ and a fetish for sex with strangers. Martin Elwick, in mitigation, said: ‘This case demonstrates the corrosive nature of online pornography.’
The court heard that High had nurtured an unhealthy obsession with sex. He told police he had looked at ‘repulsive pornographic material’ most days since 2012.
High, from Derby, attacked his first victim – the 14-year-old girl – on a footpath in Spondon in September 2014, slapping her face when she tried to fight back. In a victim impact statement she said: ‘I don’t know when, if ever, I will feel safe again.’
His second attack came a year later when he raped an 18-yearold woman three times in a nature reserve in Darley Abbey while covering her face with a black hoodie and carrying a knife.
He attacked his third victim, a 29 year-old woman, on the same Spondon footpath in December 2015, repeatedly punching her in the face as she tried to get away.
Detective Chief Inspector Emlyn Richards said ‘predatory’ High was one of the most dangerous offenders he had dealt with in 19 years of policing. Officers are reviewing old cases, fearing there could be more victims.
‘Corrupted fantasies’