A Bradford police officer Rapist, Ben Lister, has been sentenced to ten years in prison after being convicted of a reprehensible sexual attack on a lady following a night out over five years ago.
West Yorkshire Police Sergeant Ben Lister, 36, was convicted of raping a lady at a mutual friend’s residence after a night of group drinking during the August Bank Holiday weekend in 2016.
Ben Lister contested the allegation, asserting that his victim agreed to the intercourse; however, he was convicted of rape and assault by penetration by a jury at Bradford Crown Court today.
His heinous assault resulted in the victim’s pregnancy, however Ben Lister refuted any knowledge of having fathered the woman’s kid.
Bradford Crown Court was informed that Ben Lister sexually assaulted his severely intoxicated victim, significantly younger than himself, as she intermittently lost consciousness at a friend’s residence.
When she enquired about their sexual activity, he deceived her, claiming he had just engaged in oral sex.
He stated that the woman then denied that the kid was conceived from a rape; nonetheless, a DNA test demonstrated that Ben Lister was 18 million times more likely to be the father than not.
In sentencing, Judge Jonathan Rose said: “What you did on that night was to rape a woman who was, in my view, vulnerable because of her physical condition.
“This woman was out with her friends… Your account is that you were not heavily drinking. You should have been more aware of your responsibilities.
“She returned to a house where she had stayed before and had the right to feel safe.
“She drifted between a state of unconsciousness where she was aware of – but unable to stop – what you were doing.
“You took advantage of knowing she could not physically fight you off.
“You penetrated her with your fingers, you penetrated her with penis. You did not use protection.
“The consequences of such were devastating for this victim because any act of rape is devastating to the victim, but devastating for her because you got her pregnant.
“The next day, you contacted her via text message. She asked you whether you’d had sex together and you told the first of many lies, you said you hadn’t.
“You thought you had got away with it and you nearly did. But a few months later, she realised she was pregnant and she realised that she had been raped.
“You gave not for one single moment had any remorse for what you did.”
After getting a taxi back to a friend’s house they had both slept on separate sofas, but in the early hours of the morning, the woman woke to Ben Lister pulling her from the sofa and drifted in and out of consciousness during the rape.
Prosecutor Richard Woolfall, read out the victim’s impact statement which said she ‘saw Lister’ in her baby’s face.
She said she used to “sort of resent” her child as her child was “a constant reminder of what he did to me”.
She described her child as “caring” and said she just wanted her child to “know the truth”.
Following the jurys verdict Ben Lister was jailed for 10 years for rape and four years for the assault by penetration, to be served concurrently, and required to sign the sex offenders register for life.
Pauline McCullagh, head of the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit for the Crown Prosecution Service Yorkshire and Humberside, said: This woman was raped, and as a result, she became pregnant with her attackers child.
The offence of rape has profound effects on victims. Although he was not on duty when he committed this terrible crime, Lister was still a serving police officer, charged with upholding the law and protecting the public.
Our thoughts remain with the victim, as they have been throughout.
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