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Oliver Cooper locked up after violent rape on Ramsgate beach

A heartless pervert with a fixation for sex and violence raped a terrified girl on Ramsgate beach and then walked away grinning.

Now Oliver Cooper has been locked up in a young offender’s institution for eight years after a jury rejected his lies.

Cooper, 20, of St Michael’s Avenue, Margate had attacked his victim, ignoring her desperate pleas to stop.

Oliver Cooper. Pic: Kent Police
Oliver Cooper. Pic: Kent Police

Instead, he placed his hand around her throat to stop her talking, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

The judge, Recorder Stuart Trimmer QC, told how police discovered in the days leading up to the attack Cooper had been looking at a particular type of forced sex on the Internet.

He told him: “Your victim was at that time scared and you wanted nothing more than sex that evening... and sex outside. You wanted sex come what may.”

The victim feared Cooper because of his athletic build and strength and had pleaded with him to stop the attack.

The drunken attacker told the girl he would rape her if she didn’t comply with his desires and then left her on the isolated beach after the assault.

Ramsgate Main Sands
Ramsgate Main Sands

The judge continued: “Afterwards you simply called a taxi and left, knowing you had committed a serious offence.”

The jury was told that later Cooper was confronted on Facebook and offered a “kind of apology” but only to find out who his victim had told.

“In the trial, you chose to lie, causing your victim to relive the experience and then accused her of not telling the truth. When justice caught up with you, you simply chose to lie.

“I accept her evidence that she was crying and asking you to stop and when she said that when you left you had a massive grin on your face.

“You are an arrogant young man, good at sport, strong and your victim was a brave young lady. The impact on her has been high.”

“You are an arrogant young man, good at sport, strong and your victim was a brave young lady. The impact on her has been high" - Recorder Stuart Trimmer QC to Cooper

Paul Lamb, defending, said that since the trial Cooper had accepted he had done wrong and now feels remorse.”

After the hearing, the judge praised the police officer, Investigating officer DC Tania Pickering of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, who had investigated the attack.

After the trial she said: "Oliver Cooper is a predatory sex offender who repeatedly denied the allegations made against him.

"His victim was a vulnerable young woman who endured a harrowing ordeal at his hands.

"She has shown great courage and bravery to give evidence in court and ensure Cooper will now serve a lengthy prison sentence."

Cooper was found not guilty of three other counts of rape, including two against a second alleged victim.

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