Widower who became binge drinker raped woman of 29
ASOUTHPORT man who raped a 29-year-old woman has been jailed for six years.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Philip Green, 53, of Eastbourne Road, raped his victim in April. Green was found guilty by jury on September 23.
Sarah Holt, defending, said that the offence had not been planned and Green has no previous convictions. He was married for 28 years and he cared for his wife while she was suffering from terminal cancer.
Since her death, he developed a binge drinking habit and failed to heed warnings of those close to him.
“He cannot remember what happened but he accepts the verdict of the jury.”
Miss Holt added that since the offence he has made “a serious attempt on his life.”
Sentencing him to prison, Judge Robert Warnock said: “This is a sad case, primarily for your victim.
“This incident came about in part because of what I take to be unresolved grief you had at the death of your wife and in consequence you drank to excess and lost self-control
“The real sentence of course is within the victim. You raped her, and I believe you are now as horrified as she and your family about what you did.”
He said that at the time of the offence the victim had also drunk to excess and she awoke in his home to find Green raping her.
Green was sentenced to six years in prison and will be on the Sex Offenders register for life.
John Williams, prosecuting, told the court that the victim had been left feeling “emotionally numb and untrustworthy of males”. He said she is now “introverted and uncomfortable in the company of other people.”