'Chilling' Ring doorbell footage helped convict rapist by exposing his lies
A rapist’s lie that he was having consensual sex with his teenage victim was exposed by “truly chilling” Ring doorbell footage.
Luke Sargent, 31, snatched the 18-year-old from behind and dragged her into a property in Selly Oak, Birmingham, where he was carrying out some renovation work.
CCTV had captured ex-soldier Sargent prowling the streets behind groups of teenage girls in the early hours of 8 June, selecting his victim after a number of seemingly unsuccessful attempts on other targets.
As the girl walked past he snatched her from behind and dragged her into the property.
He went on to subject the victim to an hour-long sexual ordeal, ordering her to remove her clothes and have sex with him.
After the prolonged attack the victim managed to convince him she would keep quiet for £20 if he let her go – but within hours she reported him to the police and he was arrested.
Sargent claimed he simply engaged in conversation with the teenager who said she was into “kinky sex”, but the Ring doorbell footage exposed the true horrific nature of the encounter.
The clip picked up audio of Sargent saying: "Be quiet. Any noise at all I will slit your f***ing throat.”
After a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Sargent, of Cadnam Close, Harborne, was found guilty of two counts of rape, one offence of assault by penetration and another of sexual assault.
He has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 12 years.
Judge John Butterfield KC described the doorbell footage as a “truly chilling piece of evidence”, adding that it would make it hard for anyone considering his future release to believe that Sargent did not “represent a continuing menace to women”.
The attack was almost identical to one he committed on a 15-year-old girl in an alleyway in Walsall on Christmas Day 2011, for which Sargent admitted rape and was previously jailed for six years.
