Noah Hetherington 22

Description

A rapist who held a woman captive over a weekend and subjected her to “pure hell” has been jailed for 14 years.

Noah Hetherington, 22, of Maryport Road, Dearham, Cumbria, was found guilty at Carlisle Crown Court of rape, false imprisonment, assault and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The court heard he held what appeared to be a real shotgun to the woman’s head, threatened to shoot her, raped her multiple times, beat her with an axe handle and removed her phone SIM card while under the influence of cannabis, cocaine and alcohol.

Judge Nicholas Barker told him he had “entrenched criminal tendencies”.

The victim told the court she believed she would be killed and said: “He needs to be stopped. And that’s the only reason I’m trying to be strong and get through it – for other people, for other girls.”

In her impact statement she described the ordeal as “pure hell”, adding: “I was almost dead and killed, dead and buried. I’ve never been the same person since.”

She has since been in and out of hospital, lost hair, been unable to eat or sleep and now lives with daily trauma. “I’ve been traumatised,” she said. “And I’ll live with the trauma every single day.”

Hetherington, a father of two, had previous convictions for possessing an offensive weapon (a sharpened stick taken into school), battery, criminal damage, drugs and driving offences.

He must sign the sex offenders register for life and comply with a sexual harm prevention order.