June 2019

Man sentenced to 30 years in prison following rapes in Redditch and Rubery

A dangerous sex attacker who raped a schoolgirl and a woman at knifepoint and tried to rape two more on the same day has been jailed for 30 years.

Shawn Bennett raised his eyebrows and gave the judge a thumbs up as he was jailed at Worcester Crown Court today following a ‘campaign of sexual offending’ in Redditch and Rubery.

Shawn Bennett, 29, of Gilbert Road, Smethwick, was found unanimously guilty by the jury at Worcester Crown Court of:

• Two counts of rape including rape of a girl under 16-years-old

• Eight counts of sexual offences

• Two counts of assault

• Theft

• Threat to kill

In the afternoon of Monday 22 October 2018, Bennett held a woman at knifepoint, in her home in Redditch, and assaulted and raped her.

Later that afternoon he followed a 14-year-old girl who was departing from a bus in Redditch, he pulled her into the bushes where he assaulted, raped and threatened to kill her.

In the evening, Bennett then travelled to Rubery, after making inappropriate suggestions to a females he has then attempted to drag both females into a the undergrowth.

Bennett was apprehended by officers at the scene of the final attack.

The judge jailed him for 24 years but ruled that Bennett was dangerous, extending the sentence by six years.

He will only be considered for release by the Parole Board when he has served 16 years and can be released on licence (at the latest) after serving 24 years.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said Bennett had turned on the first victim in her flat and ‘held a knife to her throat’.

He said: “She tried to fight you off and escape through the front door but you dragged her back into the flat and used violence upon her to commit sexual offences including rape. She was left with injuries all over her face and her body.”

Judge Cartwright described how a neighbour saw her being dragged back into the flat and he said only by the intervention of neighbours was the prolonged attack brought to an end.

Not long afterwards the defendant was on a bus with his next victim, a girl of 14, described by the judge as both young-looking and vulnerable-looking.

Bennett followed her as she got off the bus in Redditch and attacked her.

Judge Cartwright said: “The video of you following her off the bus is chilling given that anyone watching it will know full well it was only seconds after you disappeared out of sight of the bus camera you had grabbed her by the hair and pulled her into a wooded, secluded area and raped her. She was only seconds away from the safety of her home address.”

In his sentencing remarks the judge also spoke of how Bennett made threats to kill her and to harm her family if she spoke about what he had done to her.

Later that same evening in Rubery he approached two other young women, attempting to drag them towards undergrowth but ‘thankfully they managed to raise the alarm’ and people heard their shouts for help, causing Bennett to run away.

The judge told Bennett was ‘quite satisfied your intention was, at the very least, to commit penetrative sexual assaults on both these young women’. Bennett was apprehended at the scene.

Judge Cartwright said the fact that Bennett carried condoms showed he was ‘forensically aware’ and significant planning was involved against the first victim.

Aggravating features included a previous conviction for a sexual offence, location, the use of a weapon and the fact that Bennett was under the influence of drink or drugs.

He said the second victim was ‘haunted by what you did to her’ and placed the rapes against both victims as category 1A offences.