He also failed to turn up to his trial and was arrested on a warrant
An opportunist sexual predator took advantage of a sleeping woman and raped her while she was slumped on the floor in a house after a night’s drinking. Reuben Wilson was said to have cut open the woman’s knickers while she was asleep – and he was later trapped from telltale DNA evidence on scissors 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. He was convicted by a jury at Grimsby Crown Court on the main charge of rape. The majority verdict of 10 to two was after deliberations of about five hours.
Simon Reevell, prosecuting, said that the woman was earlier out 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.
After the jury delivered its majority verdict, Judge Gurdial Singh said that he needed a report to assess the potential dangerousness that Wilson might pose. Wilson was remanded in custody and Judge Singh told him: “You are looking at a substantial prison term.”
The judge thanked the members of the jury. “Without you, we could not do our job,” said Judge Singh. “Thank you for your time, effort and patience.”
Addressing the victim, who was sitting in court, Judge Singh said: “He attacked you. Don’t think for a moment you should have done anything different. Do not reproach yourself. It is him. He is looking at a sentence in years.”
Wilson is due to be sentenced next year. He had been on bail in the run-up to the trial, which had originally been scheduled to be held at Hull Crown Court last year 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. 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.