BLACKBURN MAN JAILED FOR RAPE AFTER TARGETING WOMAN ON NIGHT OUT
A rapist who targeted a woman in her own home after meeting her on a night out in Darwen has been jailed for five years.Lewis Hartley, 24, asked the victim if he should go to her house but the woman said she just wanted to go to sleep.
In the early hours of May 14, 2023, Hartley made his way to the victim's house with one of her friends.
When the friend went to leave, Hartley pretended to be asleep, Preston Crown Court heard.
Once the victim was alone, Hartley raped and sexually assaulted her before using her mobile phone to call a taxi.
Hartley, formerly of Minnie Terrace, Blackburn, but now of no fixed address, was arrested two days later.
He was subsequently charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
In September 2025, Hartley, was found guilty of the charges at Preston Crown Court.
He was sentenced on Monday (November 10) to five years in jail and also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.
In an impact statement to the court, the victim said: “I never expected to be raped on that night in May 2023.
I was enjoying a child free weekend with friends and was out with a group of lads who I thought I could trust and feel safe with.
I felt able to have a drink and a good time and wanted to be looked after, little did I know that the night would end so very badly and change my life forever.
“I was unsure about contacting the police at all in the first instance.
I feared that I would not be believed and that the police would not take me seriously.
"Perhaps they would think it was my own fault for being out with a gang of lads but I was distressed and after several hours of worry and upset I had to do the right thing and tell them what had happened.
I was surprised by the response from the police, they listened, took me seriously and offered me support.
“I did not cope well with being in my own home after I was raped.
It should have been a safe and happy place for me and my children and it was until that night.
I delayed the children coming back and even took them on a last minute holiday to avoid having to be at the house with them.
I moved to a new house in the end and that is not something I should have had to do because of the actions of one person but I felt that I had no choice.
I threw the sofa out onto the front garden as I could not bear to have it in the house knowing what had happened on it.
I did not see my children at all for a week after that night.
I was not in any fit state to care for them and I did not want them in the house.
I spent a week trying to get back to my old self and convincing myself that I would be able to put a brave face on.
It was not easy.
I do not think that people realise how much I have struggled.
That is partially my fault for not being able to open up but it has been nothing short of terrible.
I have had countless sleepless nights and have worried endlessly about what I did wrong to deserve what had happened to me.
I have spent hours going through the night in my head, asking myself if I gave him any indication at all that it was ok to behave in the way that he did.
I have wondered what I could have done differently and then spent hours worrying that Hartley knew where I lived and people would come after me for going to the police and seeing it through to the trial at court.
“I was suddenly unable to do the normal things that a young person of my age would do.
I immediately became cautious of everyone around me and avoided nights out for a long time.
I worry about having too much to drink and question how safe I am, even with people that I have known and trusted for years.
I do not know how to fix this and hope that in time I will find a way through it.” DC Claire Scott, from Lancashire Police's East Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Investigation Team, said: “Hartley took advantage of a vulnerable woman for his own sexual gratification.
His offending has had a profound impact on her daily life as she describes so honestly in her victim impact statement.
“I want to praise the victim in this case for her bravery, and for having trust in the police to put her offender before the courts.”
