Coventry man jailed for six years after sexually abusing Solihull woman - The Coventry Observer

Coventry man jailed for six years after sexually abusing Solihull woman

Coventry Editorial 4th Jun, 2018   0

A COVENTRY man who took a drunken young Solihull woman back to his home, where he sexually abused her, has been jailed for six years.

Myles Kearney of Ashmore Road, Radford, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life by a judge at Warwick Crown Court.

The 25-year-old denied raping his victim and an alternative charge of assaulting her by penetration.

After more than eight hours at the end of his trial, the jury cleared him of the rape charge – but found him guilty by a unanimous verdict of assault by penetration.




Prosecutor Peter Cooper said that before January 23, 2016 Kearney and his victim did not know each-other, but that night they both went to a night club in Solihull.

The young woman, who was in her early 20s, had gone out with a friend and, although she did not normally drink very much, she ended up heavily intoxicated.


At some point her friend lost contact with her and searched the club looking for her, without success, so left.

The last thing the young woman could recall was dancing with her friend, after which she recalled being in a taxi.

The driver said there were three men and one female in his cab, and that during the journey to Coventry he had to stop because she was being sick.

They ended up in an area she did not recognise, and the driver saw her walking off with Kearney, who had arranged for them to be dropped off away from his home and for a friend to collect them and take them there.

He had also asked his friend to provide him with some Viagra, the jury heard.

The young woman had no recollection of how they got there, but recalled waking up in a house she did not recognise, lying on a bed with a man on top of her, holding her down.

She still had her dress on at that time, but passed out, and when she woke in the morning, she was naked and Kearney was in bed next to her.

With her dress on, but no underwear, she went downstairs, but could not get out because the door was locked, at which his mother appeared and shouted up to him to ‘sort this mess out.’

Kearney came down, but continued to be unpleasant towards her, taking more pictures which he then posted on social media, before finally letting her out.

She went out into the street where, with no idea where she was, she was seen by a passer-by who assisted her and took her to a café, from where the police were called.

Kearney claimed there had been sexual activity between them, but no intercourse, and that it had been consensual – but that was rejected by the jury.

Adam Western, defending, conceded: “This was a woman who was drunk and was taken serious advantage of by the defendant, but her state was not the responsibility of the defendant. If her drinks were spiked, there is no evidence it was by him.”

He accepted the offence was aggravated by the ‘additional degradation’ of the victim by Kearney taking pictures of her naked and then distressed by the door.

Jailing Kearney, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “Because she was so drunk, she could not recall how she met you. It must have been obvious she was in a particularly vulnerable state.

“The very last thing she was interested in was any form of sexual activity.”

“You made a number of phone calls, including one to a friend asking him to pick you up and bring some Viagra.

“In my opinion you had formed an intention to commit a far more serious sexual offence than the one you eventually committed.

“You ignored the protestation that she simply wanted to go home, and you sought to persuade her she was home and pulled her out of the taxi. She was miles from home, drunk and alone.

“What you did when you got her back to your house is far from clear, but must have involved getting her upstairs and into your bedroom where I am quite satisfied you sexually assaulted her, beginning at a stage when she was unconscious.

“When she woke the following morning, unaware where she was, you showed her absolutely no compassion.

“You went on to further humiliate her when you took at least one picture of her when she was in a state of undress and shouting at her when she was leaving, at the same time you were distributing to people in a group chat pictures you had taken of her naked and in a state of distress.”

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