A man who was supposedly helping to take a heavily inebriated woman back home on Christmas Day, took advantage of her condition to rape her on muddied grassland.

Durham Crown Court heard that the victim was under the influence of drink as well as having taken other substances and was evidently having difficulties as she tried to make her way home.

Glenn Gatland, prosecuting, said defendant Steven Catlow stepped in to assist the vulnerable woman but when she suddenly came around after suffering a medical episode, she found herself being raped by him as she lay face down, on muddy grass behind a row of shops in a County Durham town.

The court heard the case has taken several years to conclude and it was only when the 32-year-old defendant’s guilty plea to a single count of rape was accepted by the prosecution earlier this year that it resolved without going to trial.

He maintained his previous not guilty pleas to two further similar counts.

(Image: Durham Constabulary)

In her impact statement, read to yesterday’s (Monday August 12) sentencing hearing at the court, the victim said she has constantly had to cope with re-living the incident at trial over a number of years, having suffered with flashback and trauma.

She said the time taken for the case to resolve has led to her developing a worse drug habit, as a coping mechanism, from which she has never been able to recover.

During the period between the incident and the case resolving she has also had to go through family bereavements, deepening her emotional scars, on top of the physical ones she suffered with in the weeks after the offence was committed.

She added that it has all made her less sociable, reluctant to go out, as she can feel vulnerable in public places.

Dan Cordey, for the defendant, said it was two-and-a-half years after the offence took place before his client was charged.

Mr Cordey said the defendant remains, “relatively lightly convicted”, with his only other significant offending taking place since the commission of the the rape.

He said after his guilty plea was accepted earlier this year the defendant, of Accrington, in Lancashire, has been on remand in prison in Hull, due to shortages of space at jails nearer to his home area, resulting in few visits from family and friends.

Mr Cordey said it has also been the defendant’s first taste of custody, but he has responded well, earning status as a wing cleaner and doing upholstery work.

(Image: Durham Constabulary)

Judge Jo Kidd told Catlow he had been entrusted with the care of the vulnerable woman, but CCTV showed him taking her onto the muggy grassed area, where the disorientated victim regained consciousness as the rape was taking place.

“She couldn’t process what was happening.

“She was terrified and confused as you abused her.”

(Image: The Northern Echo)

Judge Kidd said Catlow tried to pass off what took place by initially lying and the victim was not originally believed.

But when the DNA evidence came back, he changed his story to say consensual sex had taken place.

Judge Kidd said the circumstances of the attack were “callous”, in a “squalid” location, with the defendant treating the victim with “disdain and contempt.”

She told Catlow: “She has sustained severe significant psychological trauma as a result of your behaviour.”

Imposing a nine-year prison sentence, she said she had only just drawn back from passing an extended sentence against the defendant.

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But she told him he must still serve two-thirds of the custodial period, six years, before he can be considered for release on licence by the Parole Board, but he may have to serve the full nine years.

Catlow was also made subject to notification and registration as a sex offender, as well as abide by restrictions under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, both of which will run for an unlimited period.

A lifetime restraining order was also put in place to offer some protection and confidence for the victim.