Sheffield man 'raped disabled woman and attacked her when she tried to flee his car'

Boris Edwards' victim was seen shouting for help as she tried to get out of his car at the BP garage on Brammall Lane, on June 12, 2018, prosecutor Louise Reevell told Sheffield Crown Court.

"The defendant pulled her hair and punched her twice in the head," she said. "A workman saw what was happening and tried to help. The defendant drove off."

Edwards picked her up in his car the day before and gave her drugs, which she accepted because she had missed an appointment for a Methadone prescription.

He took her back to an industrial building in the Shalesmoor area, which was used as a music studio.

"He picked her up like a rag doll and threw her on to cushions," Mrs Reevell said. "He punched her in the head and slapped her face.

"She said to him: "This is rape." He told her: "Shut your noise" and just carried on."

The court heard the woman, who suffers from osteoperosis and was waiting for an operation on her fractured pelvis, was in agony when Edwards prised her legs apart before the rape and used hair oil as a lubricant.

In a statement made last December, she said: "No one should have to go through what I went through at the hands of that man."

She described suffering nightmares and anxiety and says she can't bear to be on her own.

The levels of stress she endured during Edwards' trial led to her being taken to hospital with suspected heart failure.

Edwards, 55, of Fawcett Street, Sheffield, was convicted of rape and common assault by a jury in December.

The jury didn't reach verdicts on other offences against an alleged second victim, and these won't be proceeded with unless permission is granted by a judge in Sheffield or the Court of Appeal criminal division.

He was given a community order for criminal damage and racially aggravated harassment, three days before the rape.

Judge Rachael Harrison said a specialist nurse found he is not mental ill, "rationally" declined medication, and understood the criminal justice system.

"My criminal record is a blatant lie," Edwards said. "It's a fake. There are many convictions on there which are lies. You just don't care. You want to pass your nasty sentence without knowing anything about me. Is that fair?"

Representing himself, Edwards claimed his lawyers "withheld crucial evidence," but the judge said his “legal team did an exceptional job.”

He said: "You're perpetuating hatefulness, blatant injustice and racism. These proceedings are full of corruption."

The judge ordered him to be taken to the cells, noting that a trial in the middle of last year had to be aborted.

"In my judgment he was determined to derail these legal proceedings again," she said.

On Friday, Edwards was jailed for ten years, and will serve half that time in custody.