January 2012

Man sent down for rape loses his appeal

A LLANELLI man jailed after being found guilty of raping a sleeping teenager at a party has lost a battle to clear his name and win his freedom.

Dean Charles Cleobury, 23, of Rhandir, Bynea, was jailed for six years in May last year, after he was found guilty by a Swansea Crown Court jury of raping a 16-year-old girl when she fell asleep at a party in Loughor.

But Cleobury continued to profess his innocence and took his case to the Court of Appeal in London to begin a bid to overturn the conviction.

Last June, Lord Justice Gross said he was “troubled” by Cleobury’s case and the DNA evidence involved, and ordered a Court of Appeal hearing.

But, after considering Cleobury’s appeal arguments, three senior judges have now upheld the conviction and condemned him to complete his sentence.

May 2010

A LLANELLI man has been jailed for six years for raping a 16-year- old girl when she fell asleep at a party in Loughor.

The girl woke in horror in a spare bedroom to find Dean Cleobury having sex with her, Swansea Crown Court heard.

Cleobury, 22, of Rhandir, Bynea, denied rape but a jury convicted him of the sex attack by a majority verdict of 10-2. The trial in question took place in February, but sentencing had to be adjourned at that stage because he was facing a re-trial on another charge of rape.

The court heard that Cleobury, formerly of Culfor Road, Loughor, was arrested following a birthday party at a house in the village 19 months ago, where he was a guest at the party, which was attended by some 15 teenagers.

One of the teenagers, a 16-year-old, had arranged to stay the night in a bedroom at the house with her boyfriend.

Dean Charles Cleobury.

The court heard that after the 16-year-old and her boyfriend had sex in the bedroom at 1.30am, the boyfriend left her naked in bed and went downstairs to rejoin the party.

But later Cleobury went into the room in question and the girl woke in horror to find him on top of her, raping her. He fled the house after his disoriented victim began yelling, “Get off me!” Giving evidence, Cleobury denied being the attacker — and his barrister, Frank Phillips, described the case as a “whodunit”.

But the jury heard that a forensic scientist who examined Cleobury’s boxer shorts identified two components which matched the DNA profile of the complainant and which could not have come from the defendant or a girlfriend he had had sex with shortly before going to the party.

Judge Keith Thomas, passing sentence last Thursday, told Cleobury: “This is clearly a serious offence and only custody can be justified.”

Aggravating factors were that the girl was only 16 and the attack happened when she was asleep. The judge said it was difficult to know how the rape would affect the girl.

It was clear from a victim impact statement it remained “an incident she is quite unable to put out of her mind”. He ordered Cleobury to be registered indefinitely as a sex offender and disqualified him from ever working with children.

During his February trial Cleobury also denied raping two other teenage girls — a 15-year-old last summer and a 16-year-old five years ago.

He was cleared of raping the 15-year-old, who had alleged that he forced her to have sex in Pembrey Country Park last August.

Cleobury admitted kissing and fondling the 15-year-old, but was adamant intercourse did not take place.

But the February jury failed to reach a verdict on the 2005 rape allegation made by a Loughor woman, now in her early 20s, who claimed he had sex with her without her consent when they were both in their teens.

The defence case in relation to this charge was that intercourse was consensual — and on Thursday, after a four-day retrial, a different jury found Cleobury not guilty.