Luke Ward, 23, sexually assaulted a woman whom he then bombarded with text messages from his mobile after he became besotted with winning her affection. He then threatened to kill her.

Ward would not take no for an answer.

His victim told a jury at Hull Crown Court: "He took my trouser bottoms off. I was trying to scream. I screamed and screamed, until I could not scream any more. But no-one came. He then grabbed my telephone off me. I said: 'I cannot believe you have just raped me'. He said: 'No, I didn't you just wanted it'.
"He said he didn't care."

The woman said Ward sent her up to 80 text messages a day in the months after the initial attack when she found it difficult to accept he had raped her.

When the woman went to the police in June this year she admitted she had not reported the initial rape in February but decided to act after receiving threats he would stab and kill her.
In the meantime, he had attacked her home, trashing it and damaged her car. Police then contacted another woman who claimed she had been raped, too.

Ward, of Main Street, Southburn was initially charged with raping two women.

He denied four charges of rape, one attempted rape and three charges of threats to kill during a four-day trial.

A jury at Hull Crown Court took less than four hours to find him guilty of a single charge of rape against the woman and two charges of making a threat to kill. He was cleared of the other charges.

Ward put his head in his hands as he was found guilty.
His victim admitted she had tried to obtain evidence from him of the rape by texting him to ask why he had raped her and he replied: "I wanted sex."

She texted back asking why? Further messages said: "You turn me on"; "I will hand myself in"; "I am sorry"; "I hate myself for it"; "I just want a chance."

Asked why she eventually went to the police, the woman said: "I knew that it was not my fault.

"I knew I could not let it happen to anyone else. I had to come forward."

She said: "I knew I had been raped, but in a way I didn't want to think about it. In a way I wanted to forget the whole thing had happened. I didn't want to go through the whole police process. I didn't know how to bring myself to tell the police that I had been raped. It was the hardest thing to do."

After Humberside police received the initial complaint of rape they found a separate victim who said she had been raped by Ward on several occasions.

She told the jury: "I asked him why. He replied: "Because you wanted it really. It's all part of fun. It made me feel crap."
Ward, dressed in wide white tie and open neck shirt in the dock, had appeared smiling outside court on the eve of his trial. Watched by his stepfather from the public gallery he fought back tears as he was told the starting point for rape was five years.

Trial judge Roger Thorn, QC, ordered Ward to stand as he told him: "I am not prepared to sentence you today. I need to be satisfied whether or not you are a dangerous person or not.

"I can only know that when I have a pre-sentence report. I have to consider whether to pass an indeterminate sentence. In this case there are a number of aspects that are most disturbing. You will have to be remanded in custody in the meantime."

Speaking outside court, Humberside Police Dc Dean Smith said: "It was clearly a difficult situation for the victim. Eventually she managed to have the courage to come forward and tell the police of the situation.

She was given all the help and support the police could offer. This case has shown the police are willing to listen to other people in similar situations if they wish to come and talk to us."

Ward was remanded in custody and is expected to be sentenced at Hull Crown Court in around four-weeks time.




LUKE WARD