Jail at last for the sadistic rapist who fled justice

A VIOLENT rapist who failed to turn up for his trial has finally been sentenced for his horrific attack on a teenage girl nearly two years ago.

Charles Megson jumped bail and went on the run the night before he was due in court last September but a jury convicted him in his absence of raping and assaulting the 18-year-old in March, 2008.

He was re-arrested in October by police and at Leeds Crown Court yesterday was given an indeterminate jail sentence for public protection after being described as a dangerous sadist.

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The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said the attack had caused Megson's victim "serious physical and psychological effects".

He abducted her, tied her hands and forced her across fields before raping her and assaulting her.

He ordered Megson to serve a minimum of six years in custody before he can be considered for parole but stressed he would only be released when no longer considered a risk to the public.

Megson, 39, formerly of Harewood Road, Eastmoor, Wakefield, had arranged to meet the girl because she wanted to buy amphetamines from him.

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Nicholas Lumley, prosecuting, said Megson took her down an alley and told her to wait.

When he returned he grabbed her from behind and then used her belt to tie her hands behind her back. He forced her across fields until they were in a secluded area, punched her in the face, ripped her clothes and raped her.

He then untied her hands, let her dress and said he felt bad about what he had done but within seconds had lost his temper as she tried to walk away. She was dragged to the ground and he put his hands around her throat and squeezed until she was struggling to breath. Eventually he let her go.

The girl told her mother she had been attacked but police discovered Megson had disappeared from his home. He lay low for a year using the name Ian Charles before he was finally arrested in March last year.

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The judge said he clearly tried "to avoid the consequences of what you knew you had done."

He was initially held in custody but was bailed after time limits ran out and he then absconded the night before his trial.

The court heard of the victim's ongoing trauma.

"Even though it was over a year ago when it happened I still get flashback and nightmares when I am sleeping. The night it happened I was so scared and frightened I couldn't cry out, such was my fear, I truly thought he was going to kill me."

She had to have two teeth removed after the attack. "But worse, much worse are the mental scares he has left me with. I am tearful and upset when I am not angry, my mood swings from one to another in an instant."

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Megson had no similar convictions but the court heard he had been cleared of an attempted rape, which involved tying another woman up, after the jury accepted his account it was consensual.

John Topham, for Megson, said he continued to deny the rape in 2008.

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