A serial sex offender who targeted two women – and raped one of them – has been jailed for 14 years.
David Beck tried to pretend that the victims were lying about what happened but his claims were condemned as "absolute and utter nonsense" and they were "not plausible" at all, Hull Crown Court heard.
Beck, 30, of Nornabell Street, off Holderness Road, east Hull, denied 10 sexual offences but he was convicted by a jury of six of them after more than eight hours of deliberations, spanning two days, following a nine-day retrial. An earlier trial last year had to be abandoned after additional late evidence emerged.
The charges involved two offences of rape and two offences of assault by penetration against one woman and one offence of sexual assault and another of assault by penetration against the other woman.
The two rape convictions were both unanimous but three of the other convictions were either by majority verdicts of 10 to two or, in one case, by 11 to one. He was cleared of four offences, with three of them, including two of assault by penetration, involving the rape victim. The other involved a charge of sexual assault on the other woman.
Richard Butters, prosecuting, said that Beck sexually assaulted both women. "The defendant would say that these two women are liars from start to finish," said Mr Butters.
The rape victim had said: "It's so hard to talk about. It's so painful." Mr Butters asked the jury whether, if the woman was lying, she would allow herself to suffer the stress of the court process. "Would she put herself through the torture that she experienced in this trial?" he asked.
The ordeal had been "traumatic" for her. "This defendant has ruined her life and violated her and she is feeling it today," said Mr Butters.
The second woman had said: "I have got nothing to gain by lying. He did sexually assault me." Mr Butters said: "She felt violated." The woman had told the court that what Beck did was "not right".
It was claimed by the defence that the women and all the prosecution witnesses were lying to the court and were "part of a conspiracy", said Mr Butters. He said of the defence claims: "Everybody is a liar. Everybody is in this conspiracy together. It's not plausible."
Beck claimed that a man had "manipulated" the rape victim into lying. "That's absolute and utter nonsense," said Mr Butters. "His explanations are utterly ridiculous."
During Beck's defence evidence, his barrister, Michael Forrest, asked him whether the sexual allegations against him over the rape victim were true. Beck replied: "It didn't happen, no." He claimed of the two rape allegations: "That's not true."
When asked about how he felt when he was told about the other sexual allegations involving the rape victim, Beck replied: "It was just disgusting to hear. I felt physically ill. I still feel physically ill to this day. I was terrified and scared."
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Beck claimed that he had been attacked as a result of the allegations. "I was physically beaten up on the doorstep," he claimed. "I remember being on the floor trying to protect myself. I had to run. I managed to get myself in a property to my mum's property."
Beck claimed, when asked about the allegations involving the sexual assault victim: "That didn't happen. I wouldn't do something like that to a woman, especially without consent."
He repeatedly replied: "That didn't happen" when other allegations were put to him. Beck told the court that he worked, at the time of some of the incidents, at a pub and in a nightclub.
He had been on bail during the retrial but, after the convictions, he was remanded in custody for a dangerousness assessment.
At a resumed hearing, Mr Forrest said that there were references for Beck and that he had no previous convictions. No mitigation was offered for the offences because Beck had run his case to a trial but he had been convicted.
Mr Forrest claimed that Beck did not meet the criteria for being regarded as a dangerous offender and this was accepted by the court. Beck will have to register as a sex offender indefinitely and he was given an indefinite restraining order.
