Man jailed for raping a woman who had been on a night out with friends

A man has been jailed for raping a woman who had been out on a night out with friends on Merseyside.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Stephen Lequesne, 23, of no fixed abode, raped the 21-year-old woman in a car park that was surrounded by bushes in Hoghton Street, Southport around 1am on 8 July 2021.

A passer-by heard her screams and went to find out what was happening. He saw Lequesne appearing to rape the victim and shouted at him to stop.

Lequesne told the passer-by that the victim was his girlfriend and that he had been hugging her. But as Lequesne moved off the woman, she ran away, screaming.

The 42-year-old passer-by detained Lequesne and called the police. Another passer-by also heard the victims screams and called the police.

Lequesne was arrested at the scene but denied he had raped the woman. He said he had met her in the street and chatted to her briefly but had then passed out and woke up to find he was being detained by the police.

He was interviewed by officers and shown CCTV footage from the scene that showed him assaulting the victim. However, he refused to watch the footage past the point where he met the victim. He then became aggressive and verbally abused the female interviewing officer. He was read a precis of the CCTV footage but then shut down and refused to speak further.

He eventually pleaded guilty to attempting to rape the victim but further evidence came to light and the Crown Prosecution Service charged him with rape. He pleaded guilty to that charge on 15 October 2021 at Liverpool Crown Court.

He was sentenced on the same day to 10 years 6 months in jail. The Judge, Recorder Colbert-Jones, found him to be dangerous and added an extended licence period of four and a half years to his sentence. He must serve two thirds of his sentence before he can be considered for release.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Matthew Lacey, a specialist Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Prosecutor with CPS Mersey Cheshire, said: “Lequesne raped this young woman when she was vulnerable and alone.

“Lequesne has become a dangerous sexual predator whose behaviour has been escalating and who is a risk to the public, specifically vulnerable females. 

“This victim has been traumatised by what happened to her on that night – a night when all she had set out to do was have a good time with her friends.

“Instead she was subjected to one of the most serious offences in the criminal justice system and is left trying to pick up the pieces of her life and carry on.

“Lequesne has pleaded guilty ultimately to the full extent of his offending, but only at the last minute.

“The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank the victim for her courage in helping us bring this prosecution. We would also like to thank the passers-by who played a crucial part on that night. One of them detained Lequesne, enabling the victim to get away and called the police. The other also alerted the police.

“The CPS hopes that this sentence goes some way to providing the victim with some sense of justice and encourages other victims of sexual crimes to come forward and see their attackers face justice.”