Leon Pedley 34

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Convicted rapist jailed for posing as lottery winner to breach sexual harm prevention order

Leon Pedley, 34, of Latimer Road, Annan, has been jailed for two years and eight months after posing as a lottery winner and offering a woman £60,000 to spend a weekend with him at a Carlisle hotel.

The deception was a breach of his sexual harm prevention order, imposed after his 2012 conviction for “abduction and rape” in Scotland. The order bans him from any face-to-face contact with a woman unless approved in advance by his offender manager.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke told Carlisle Crown Court that Pedley cynically duped a vulnerable woman. Pedley spent the weekend with her at the hotel. It was accepted he did not have the £60,000 he promised. An earlier hearing was told there appeared to be “deliberate targeting.” Burke described the incident as a “deliberate breach” of the order.

Days before the encounter, Pedley had been released from jail for similar offending. He had served 23 months after posing as a millionaire to gain “sexual favours,” offering a woman £4,000 to meet and another £4,000 if she would have sex with him. She received no money.

Pedley was investigated for an alleged rape during the hotel stay, but prosecutors took no further action.

Judge Michael Fanning imposed the sentence. Pedley remains on the Sex Offender Register.