Repeat rapist handed life sentence for Selly Oak attack

A convicted rapist has been jailed again for dragging a young woman into an empty property and raping her.

When Luke Sargent struck in Selly Oak, Birmingham, earlier this year, he had already served a prison sentence for raping a 15-year-old girl on Christmas Day in 2011.

He was given a life sentence after being found guilty of the second rape.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court, he was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years in prison.

CCTV showed he had spent some time following groups of women before the 8 June attack, said police after Tuesday's sentencing.

The trial also heard an audio recording of him threatening to slit the woman's throat, after he grabbed her as she made her way home.

She remembered as much detail as she could from the attack, enabling her to pick out Sargent in an ID parade, said Det Con Andy Carnall from the West Midlands force..

During the court proceedings, the jury heard the victim's impact statement in which she said she was "grieving" for the freedom she had before the attack, said police.

"I've since looked back at pictures of my friends and I out having fun the same night before I was attacked, and I just want to scream out to younger me to run, that she's in danger, to go find safety, as she has no idea what she's about to endure," the statement explained.

"I was just trying to walk home," it added.

Sargent, 31, from Willenhall, Walsall, will remain on licence and on the sex offenders register for life.

The Christmas Day attack happened in Rushall, Walsall.

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