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Life for rapist who blamed wife for his crimes (7 May 2014)

Date: 07/05/2014
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Life for rapist who blamed wife for his crimes

The wife of a convicted rapist jailed for a minimum of 11 years has vowed to stand by him, after saying her husband was a “kind and sensitive” person.

Mark Thompson, 37, claimed that, because he was not having sexual relations with his wife, he had to have sex with other women instead.

His wife Adriana Ford-Thompson – a Cambridge graduate who works at York University as a research and teaching fellow – has vowed to stand by him, despite having to sit through graphic descriptions in court of how he raped other women, the Daily Mail reports.

One of Thompson’s victims is a 21-year-old student at the university where his wife works. The court heard how Thompson abducted her as she was walking home from working at a club at 3.50am.

The martial arts expert grabbed the girl and dragged her in a headlock to his white van – parked round a corner – before telling her:

“You have two options – you can give me what I want and you tell nobody what has happened, or tonight is the night you die.”

He then drove round York with her in his van and stopped to rape her three times.

Teesside Crown Court heard that pastor’s son Thompson also told the girl, “I don't get sex from my wife, so I go to get it elsewhere.”

His victim eventually escaped at a red traffic light and ran through the streets and into the arms of a retired policeman.

The court – and Thompson’s wife – also heard him admit to being a drug user and adulterer.

However, Adriana Ford-Thompson mouthed “I love you” to her husband as he was convicted on nine counts of rape, attempted rape and kidnapping, after a nine-day trial.

“I have known him for ten years – he is my best friend. I will stand by him through all of this, said Mrs Ford-Thompson.

“They have taken my husband away from me. He is not the man they are making him out to be,” she added.

Judge Michael Taylor jailed Thompson for life for his attack on the student and three other women whom he raped or attempted to rape. After he was arrested, an investigation found that Thompson had been linked to a sex attack in 2009 – and two other women went to the police to report Thompson had attacked them while they were in bed.

One of the women was spared from being raped because she was wearing a “onesie” in bed and Thompson was unable to unfasten it.

Judge Taylor said Thompson was “one of the most dangerous offenders” he had ever dealt with:

“You sexually abused four young women – you fought your trial to the bitter end – and you have shown not on ounce of mercy or remorse for these offences, which amount to any woman's worst nightmare,” he told Thompson.

“You are only 37 years of age and I treat you as a man of previous good character – but this catalogue of offences is truly horrific.

“You are one of the most dangerous offenders I have ever had to deal with in my entire judicial career. You will not take no for an answer – you will pursue women even into their own homes.

“In my view, you pose a significant risk to women for many, many years into the future,” Judge Taylor added.

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