Daniel Booth, 20, jailed for seven years over the 'violent' rape of woman found abandoned in Portsmouth city centre car park

Daniel Booth, who was 18 then and is now 20, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday.

Booth, of Beresford Road, denied the rape, which took place on June 29, 2021, but was found guilty by a jury after a crown court trial this year.

The jury heard the victim, a woman in her 20s, reported to police that she had been separated from her friends shortly after 11pm following a night out in Portsmouth.

She reported waking up in Hippodrome House Car Park in the early hours of June 30, with no recollection of what had happened to her.

She was found by members of the public who found her in the car park and helped her to contact her friends and ensured that she got home.

Extensive CCTV enquiries, forensic, and mobile phone analysis led to Booth being arrested and then charged with one count of rape.

An examination of Booth’s mobile phone by police showed that prior to his arrest, he had been doing web searches on Google about rape including how someone can be convicted of rape, as well as what evidence police need to charge someone with rape. He also visited the CPS website on how the Crown Prosecution Service prosecute rape.

In a victim impact statement, the woman involved said that what happened to her will be a nightmare that she will forever have to live with.

Sentencing Booth, Judge Timothy Mousley KC said: ‘She could not have anticipated what happened to her that night and was incapable of protecting herself from you. You took complete advantage of her. You carried her to the place where you violently raped her and abandoned her, you left her in the cold and wet.’

Judge Mousley commended the actions of the young man who found the victim got her to safety while looking after her and ensuring she was reunited with her friends.

Det Con Nick Sandford-Smith, who led the investigation, said: ‘This was a truly terrible and predatory crime that has understandably had a significant impact on the woman involved.

‘The courage it takes to come forward and speak to us about incidents of this nature should not be underestimated and I would like to take this opportunity to commend this young woman for the bravery she has shown.

‘I hope that this sentence goes some way to helping the woman involved gain closure and begin to move forward with her life. We want our communities, and survivors of abuse, to know that we stand with them and will do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice.’

Portsmouth Det Chief Insp Dal Andrews said the force is continuing with patrols when pubs and clubs are at their busiest, adding: ‘A key focus of our officers, together with pubs and clubs, is to identify vulnerable people and safeguard them, as well as targeting and calling out perpetrators, arresting and using dispersal powers where necessary.’

Booth will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and will have to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.