PETERBOROUGH RAPIST TOLD VICTIM HE HAD 'ILLNESS' WHICH MADE HIM ASSAULT HER WITHOUT KNOWING
A man who sexually assaulted a woman while she was sleeping maintained that she had simply experienced a nightmare.Joshua McKay, aged 26, committed the assault in Peterborough.
When the woman woke up during the attack, he insisted that the incident had not actually occurred.
During a phone call with the woman concerning the incident, McKay continued to deny the allegations.
He claimed that he suffered from an illness that caused him to assault her in his sleep and that he was unaware he was doing so.
Despite this, McKay, a resident of Whitwell, Peterborough, later sent the woman two handwritten notes apologizing for harming her during the assault, which took place between 2016 and 2017.
In 2017, he also messaged her, confessing to the rape and urging her not to report the matter to authorities.
The woman reported the incident to police in 2019, leading to McKay’s arrest.
During police interviews, he denied the accusations, claiming the sexual activity was consensual.
He further stated that the handwritten notes were not authored by him, asserting they were not in his handwriting and that he had never seen them before.
However, forensic analysis detected McKay’s fingerprints on one of the letters, resulting in his charge for rape.
His trial at Cambridge Crown Court lasted five days in January.
After less than two hours of jury deliberation, he was convicted of one count of rape.
On Friday, he was sentenced in the same court to seven years and six months in prison.
Det Con Lisa Marston, who investigated, said: “I would like to commend the victim in this case for her bravery in coming forwards and her strength in supporting a conviction, which included giving evidence at the trial.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of any form of sexual abuse to report it to us.
Please be assured we will always treat you with the utmost sensitivity and respect."
