Man jailed after raping woman as she slept

A CORNWALL man has been jailed again after raping a woman while she slept at a hotel. Ian Foster appeared at Wood Green Crown Court London on July 16 after a jury found him guilty of rape on April 26, following a trial.

The court heard the victim, in her 30s, was known to the defendant. At a hotel in Edmonton, North London on January 17, 2020, a heated argument ensued in the hotel room between the two, where Foster, aged 41 and of no fixed abode, displayed sexual jealousy.

After the argument, Foster and the woman went to sleep. In the early hours of January 18, Foster raped the victim while she slept. Officers attended the hotel later that morning after a concerned phone call from the victim’s mother following the argument.

The victim did not tell officers then she had been raped, as she was scared and just wanted to go home with her parents. But in the early hours of January 19, once she was safely home, she reported the incident to police via a friend.

The victim was supported by specially trained sexual offence officers in her own force area of Devon and Cornwall on behalf of the Metropolitan Police.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said Foster was arrested in Devon on 19 January on suspicion of rape and recalled to prison in breach of licence conditions after a conviction for two rapes in 2012 at Truro Crown Court.

He was charged on January 31, 2023. The police probe included taking witness accounts from hotel staff and family/friends of the victim and reviewing CCTV of the pair at the hotel which showed Foster following her around like a ‘puppy dog’ and trying to ‘reason with her’ on January 18 following the rape. Officers reviewed hundreds of phone messages which highlighted Foster’s sexual jealously. In one, on January 18 Foster said he was unsure why he committed the act after he was challenged by the victim.

Foster was given 16 years in jail and a restraining order to stop him contacting the victim. Police thanked her for her “immense courage and bravery” in the investigation. They called Foster “a highly dangerous individual”, who “appears enraged by sexual jealousy and insecurity, and showed “zero remorse” for his actions.