Student convicted of intercourse assaults after he ‘by chance had intercourse’
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A former film student who repeatedly raped two women and sexually assaulted a third while they were asleep has been warned he faces a potential life sentence.
Connor Yaxley, 30, claimed he was ‘dreaming’ when he had sex with two women, arguing that he was unaware of his actions.
He was found guilty of all charges after a nine-day trial at Norwich Crown Court.
Yaxley, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, had denied three counts of rape against one woman between December 2017 and December 2019, two counts of rape against a second woman between April 2018 and August 2020, and the sexual assault of a third woman in August 2020.
The jury took just six hours to convict him on all counts.
A former film student who repeatedly raped two women and sexually assaulted a third while they were asleep has been warned he faces a potential life sentence. Connor Yaxley, 30, claimed he was ‘dreaming’ when he had sex with two women, arguing that he was unaware of his actions
Yaxley was found guilty of all charges after a nine-day trial at Norwich Crown Court. The first victim told the court that Yaxley had used the excuse of being asleep on multiple occasions.
The first victim told the court that Yaxley had used the excuse of being asleep on multiple occasions.
Another woman described waking up twice from a deep sleep to find Yaxley having sex with her, despite having previously told him she did not want to engage in sexual activity.
During the trial, the prosecutor, Andrew Thompson, emphasized that consent requires freedom and capacity, neither of which is possible when a person is asleep.
He argued that Yaxley’s actions demonstrated a refusal to accept ‘no’ for an answer, describing his behaviour as that of a rapist.
Judge Andrew Shaw, who presided over the case, described the offences as ‘extremely serious’.
Judge Shaw said he had ‘the gravest of concerns’ about Yaxley and would be considering not just a ‘very lengthy custodial sentence’, but also ‘potentially a life sentence’.
The first woman told the court that Yaxley had used the excuse to her that the sex had happened while he was dreaming more than once.
Another time she claimed that the former film studies student told her that he had accidentally penetrated her while they were both asleep.
At the time of the attacks, he was studying film at the University of Suffolk, based at East Coast College in Great Yarmouth. Despite his claims in court that all sexual encounters were consensual, the jury unanimously rejected his defence
The other rape victim said in a recorded police interview that she had twice woken up from ‘a deep sleep’ to find Yaxley having sex with her.
Giving evidence in court from behind a screen, the woman said it happened the second time after she had got into bed with Yaxley and had told him that she did not want sex.
The woman claimed that she had been prone to sleeping deeply, and took time to wake up and understand what was happening.
When she came round, she realised that Yaxley had been having sex with her without consent.
She told the court: ‘I thought he was asleep, and woke him up and asked him why? He said he didn’t remember and must have done it in his dreams, and that he was so sorry and did not know what he was doing.’
Under cross examination, she was asked if she had accepted his explanation at the time that the sex had happened while he was asleep. She replied: ‘Then, I accepted it.’
On a third occasion, she said she had woken up to find Yaxley fiddling intimately with her and that she had then consented to sex.
She went on to say that she had only come to realise that his actions had been wrong when she spoke to a friend.
Prosecutor Andrew Thompson said that Yaxley also told police in an interview that he would do things ‘without knowing because he was dreaming at the time’.
Yaxley also claimed to officers that he was prone to having bad dreams, and had woken up to find that he was having sex with one of the women.
The court heard how he had also sexually assaulted a third woman by touching her intimately as she slept on a chair at his home.
Mr Thompson described the alleged incident in August 2020 as ‘unwanted touching that was clearly sexual’.
The prosecutor said that a person could only consent to sex by ‘choice’ and if they had the ‘freedom and capacity to make that choice’.
He added that a sleeping woman – ‘the same as if it were an unconscious woman’ – could not consent to sexual conduct that took place ‘while she is asleep’.
Mr Thompson told the jury that when Yaxley ‘wants it, he will not take no for an answer’.
He added: ‘This is a person that can’t stop himself and sees sleeping women as no reason to reign himself in. We say that is the behaviour of a rapist.’
Yaxley was remanded in custody following the verdict.
At the time of the attacks, he was studying film at the University of Suffolk, based at East Coast College in Great Yarmouth.
Despite his claims in court that all sexual encounters were consensual, the jury unanimously rejected his defence.
