SleepWalking Rapist Jailed

A Newark man who claimed he was sleepwalking when he raped a 17-year-old girl has been jailed for six years.


Zack Thompson, 20, maintained his defence for two-and-a-half years before finally admitting he raped the girl at a Portuguese holiday resort in 2009.

Sentencing Thompson, of Lincoln Street, at Nottingham Crown Court, Judge John Milmo QC said his crime has had a devastating effect on the victim.

"She said 'I did nothing wrong', and she was absolutely right," the judge said. "I only hope that today will mark an occasion when she can go back to being the happy young girl she used to be."

Opening the case for the Crown, prosecutor Dawn Pritchard said Thompson was 18 when he raped the girl, who is now 19, while they were on holiday in Albufeira on September 12, 2009. He said he had drunk seven or eight pints during the evening and before the offence, but could not remember anything after that.

Miss Pritchard said that when asked if he had raped her, he said: "I can't remember, maybe."

The victim returned to the UK immediately after the rape and reported it to the police. When Thompson returned to the UK he handed himself into Newark Police Station, Nottinghamshire Police said.
He did not deny committing the act but refused to take criminal responsibility from the outset, claiming he was sleepwalking and had no memory of the attack.

A joint statement from the victim and her family, said the last two and a half years had been "exhausting and emotionally draining for us all".

The statement added: "We are thrilled that justice has been done and that he will finally have to pay for what he did - but the ordeal does not end here. We have not walked away from court today free of this nightmare and, though we are hopeful for the future, we are sure our lives will never be the same again."