His DNA was found on the scissors he used to cut open her underwear
Rapist Reuben Wilson(Image: Hull Live)
An opportunist sexual predator who raped an unsuspecting woman while she was slumped on the floor after a night’s drinking has been jailed for 10 years. Reuben Wilson cynically took advantage of the woman and craftily cut open her knickers while she was fast asleep after a night out.
But he was later trapped from telltale DNA evidence on the scissors that he had used to cut open her underwear and from traces of her bodily fluids inside his boxer shorts, a court heard. Wilson, 54, of Minster Avenue, Beverley, but recently in custody on remand, denied offences of rape and an alternative of sexual assault on August 30, 2020. He was convicted by a jury at Grimsby Crown Court on the main charge of rape.
The majority verdict of 10 to two was reached after deliberations of about five hours. The trial finished on December 1 and Wilson had been in custody since then awaiting sentence.
Simon Reevell, prosecuting, said that the woman was out earlier in the day with her boyfriend. She met relatives and then left them before going to a pub, where she met three other people, including Wilson. They went back to the home of two of those people after being invited back for drinks.
The woman fell asleep on the floor and, when she woke up, there was a duvet over her. Under the duvet was Wilson. Her tights had been ripped and her knickers had been cut open.
She alerted her boyfriend and they telephoned the police, who came to the house and found Wilson still asleep and drunk under the duvet in the kitchen.
Forensic tests revealed that there was internal bodily fluid from the woman on the inside front of Wilson’s boxer shorts but it was not possible to say the exact part of her body that this was from. There were fibres on the blade of a pair of scissors and these matched – and were “indistinguishable from” – fibres from the woman’s underwear that had been cut open.
On the handle of the scissors was Wilson’s DNA. During his first police interview, Wilson made no comment to questions but, during a later interview, he claimed that he had no memory of the incident because he suffered from blackouts.
Wilson declined to give evidence to the jury in his defence during the trial. But defence barrister Julia Baggs said that he claimed that someone else committed the rape. He had no memory of it because of his health problems. The woman also could not remember what happened.
At a sentencing hearing, also at Grimsby Crown Court, Miss Baggs said in mitigation that Wilson had, while in prison, been working with mental health professionals and receiving medication for depression and anxiety. He was waiting to start work in the joinery department.
Wilson was given an indefinite restraining order and he must register as a sex offender for life. He had been on bail in the run-up to the trial, which had originally been scheduled to be held at Hull Crown Court in 2024 but it was adjourned.
Wilson had attended at the Hull court for a mention hearing three days before the rearranged trial date in Grimsby on November 24 last year. He had also been there to meet his then barrister on October 31.
But he failed to turn up at the Grimsby court for his trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested later that day and was brought before the Grimsby court the next day, where his bail was revoked and he was remanded in custody.
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