A judge has branded a rapist evil and bestial after he dragged his victim down steps into a subway where he raped her five times in an ordeal which lasted 45 minutes.

Samuel Crabtree, 30, formerly of Maidstone but now of Cecil Road, Rochester, attacked his victim in an underpass between Dock Road and Melville Court in Chatham in the early hours of Sunday, July 14.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC told him: “You subjected her to a prolonged sexual assault.

“Your assaults were brutal and you ignored her pleas. Your behaviour was evil and bestial.”

He sentenced Crabtree to an extended sentence of 15 years in custody and eight years on licence after he is released.

Dominic Connolly, prosecuting, told Maidstone Crown Court that the victim, who was in her 20s, was walking home.

Crabtree saw her and started following her. She became aware of him and crossed the road near the subway.

“Crabtree ran at her and punched her twice to the ground before dragging her down steps which led to a subway,” Mr Connolly said.

Mr Connolly said Crabtree repeatedly hit the victim on the head, carried out the attacks and threatened to kill her.

He called her a liar and said it was her fault because she was pretty and out on the street.

Mr Connolly said she asked Crabtree to let her go and promised not to tell anyone. She said she had a child. Crabtree again said he would kill her and she would not see her child again. He took photos of her on his

phone.

The victim saw two men in the distance by a garage and ran towards them in her bare feet shouting that she had been raped. They rang the police.

Mr Connolly said taxi driver Robert Arnold received a call to pick up a man near to where the attack had happened.

The man, who had no top on and was cut and scratched, said he had "been jumped on by three druggies", Mr Connolly said.

He told the court the mobile phone number used to book the taxi was Crabtree’s. He was arrested at work.

The victim picked him out in an identity line-up and his DNA was found on swabs taken from the victim. Two photos of her were found in a deleted file on Crabtree’s phone.

Interviewed by police Crabtree said he went out drinking on the night of the attack and could not remember anything.

“In any view this must have been a terrifying ordeal which must have seemed to extend for eternity. It must have been a living nightmare.” — Judge Griffith-Jones

In a statement read to the court the victim said she did not like going out since the attack as she was scared of being followed.

“I had done so well and it’s all been taken away from me,” she said.

She said she suffered from anxiety and carried an attack alarm.

She had trouble sleeping, kept crying and suffered flashbacks each day and had had to lie to her child and other family members over how she got her bruises and cuts.

“I was just walking home that night as usual,” she said. “I wasn’t walking through the subway. I was dragged down there by my attacker.”

She said she had to take tablets and injections to guard against hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases.

Craig Evans, defending, said it was an appalling set of offences and Crabtree was remorseful.

“He will do the best he can to seek rehabilitation while in custody,” Mr Evans said.

Passing sentence Judge Griffith-Jones told Crabtree he was a dangerous offender because of the depths of his depravity.

“You spotted your victim and it is clear that you targeted and followed her for about a kilometre,” he said.

“When you arrived at a suitably quiet location you struck, punched her repeatedly, dragged her down steps into the subway where you subjected her to a prolonged sexual assault.

“You struck her head against the wall, pulled her hair and sought to denigrate and humiliate her. You threatened to kill her and at one point told her cruelly that she would not see her little child the next day. You also took photos on your phone.

“She was left battered and bruised. When she made her escape you chased her. Fortunately she found sanctuary.

“In any view this must have been a terrifying ordeal which must have seemed to extend for eternity. It must have been a living nightmare.”

Judge Griffith-Jones said listening to her victim impact statement was harrowing and distressing to hear.

“The victim bears no responsibility at all for what you did to her,” he said.

Crabtree admitted five rapes, two sexual assaults and an assault intending to commit a sexual assault last month.

He will serve a minimum of 10 years behind bars.

Subway rapist jailed for 15 years after attack in Chatham

Detective Inspector James Derham, Kent Police’s senior investigating officer for the case, said: "Crabtree subjected the victim of this case to an appalling attack.

"The courage she showed to report this, and assist us in our investigation, can only be commended and I am pleased we have secured justice for her.

"Crabtree is undoubtedly a serious danger to other members of the public and I am pleased the court has enforced a strong custodial sentence which means he is no longer a threat to anyone else."

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