Life for convicted rapist found guilty of three further attacks

Former soldier Brian Witty, 42, had denied three rapes on three separate 19-year-old women who came forward after seeing reports of his conviction last year for another string of sex attacks.

But a jury at Kingston Crown Court, in Surrey, yesterday found him guilty and he was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years of his life sentence.

Witty, then of Marlow House, Twickenham Road, Teddington, Middlesex, was jailed indefinitely in May last year for three counts of rape and one of sexual assault by penetration.

The sentencing judge, who ordered him to be placed on the sex offenders’ register for life, described him as a “very real danger to women” and said he would have to serve at least eight years before being considered for release.

The attacks for which he was originally convicted had taken place between 1995 and 2011 on victims the sexual predator met though a dating website and in chance encounters in bars.

Publicity from the case led to three further victims independently reporting their own ordeal at Witty’s hands.

The first of these offences took place in 1989 when both Witty and his victim were 19-year-
old A-level students at a Hull college.

They began a relationship which ended when the two began studies at different universities.

Tracking her down to her halls of residence, Witty entered her room unexpectedly, raped and repeatedly punched her.

He struck again in 1997, when he was aged 27.

First, he attacked a 19-year-old who was staying at his sister’s home in Hull after the two women had been out together.

Then, at the end of New Year’s Eve celebrations, he lured another 19-year-old to his flat in Kensington, west London, with an offer of accommodation for the night before raping her.

Witty, a former Territorial Army Parachute Regiment captain, was arrested on January 24 this year for the three additional offences and charged on February 12.

DC Peter Sullivan, of Scotland Yard, said last night: “The women in this and Witty’s previous trial have been incredibly courageous.

“By revisiting these traumatic experiences and providing evidence against Witty, they have ensured that justice can been served and he has been held to account for many years of offending.

“I have great admiration for the dignity and fortitude they have shown throughout the court proceedings.

“Witty is a serial rapist who is arrogant in the extreme and has shown absolutely no contrition for his crimes.

“Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, he made these women – and in some cases their families – give lengthy evidence, further compounding the distress and trauma he had already caused.

“He has left a legacy of pain and suffering which will live with many of them for the rest of their lives.”

Sally-Ann Russell, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Witty’s predatory behaviour towards his victims has proved him to be dangerous and prolific sexual offender.

“His conviction in 2012 for three rapes and one sexual assault clearly gave further victims the confidence to come forward.

“We supported them through the prosecution process by using a number of special measures including giving evidence behind a screen in court to save them from having to directly face Witty.

“Witty has consistently denied all the offences put before the court but for a second time the jury has seen through his lies.”