Teacher 'with world at his feet' jailed for Wakefield sofa rape after night out
A promising teacher with his career ahead of him has been jailed after he raped a female he met during a night out.
Sam Mitchell forced himself on the victim, put his hands around her throat and slapped her across the face. He unknowingly also gave her a sexually-transmitted disease.
The 23-year-old was found guilty of three counts of rape and three counts of assault by penetration after a recent trial at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard that Mitchell had been out on January 22 last year. He was with a friend and he met the woman in a nightclub. He had been drinking and taking drugs, but denied throughout his trial that it had affected his judgement.
They later got a taxi back to his friend’s home in Wakefield and they eventually fell asleep on a sofa.
The victim said “no” to his advances but he forced himself onto her.
Mitchell, of Canal Court, Lofthouse, appeared in court this week from HMP Lincoln where he was being held on remand.
Mitigating, Lucy Brown said there was little that could be said in Mitchell’s defence due to his denials, but did point to his young age at the time of the offences, and that he has no previous convictions.
She said that his teaching career was now over and said: “It’s the start of a difficult journey for him to accept what happened.”
Judge Andrew Stubbs KC told Mitchell: “You had the world at your feet. You were a talented and gifted young man.
“Something led you to behave that way that was totally out of character for you. The drinking and drugs must have played a part.”
He jailed him for seven years and put him on the sex offender register for life.