Rapist's relatives jailed for pressuring victim

Matthew Fox was jailed after being convicted of raping an unconscious woman

Three relatives of a rapist have been jailed for perverting the course of justice after attempting to pressure his victim into changing her account.

Matthew Fox, 33, of Peterborough, was jailed for 11 years last week after jurors at Cambridge Crown Court concluded he raped a woman near a Peterborough car park in July.

His cousin Alfie Smith, 27; sister Jamie-Lee Fox, 37; and mother Alison Quinn-Gajdur, 58, were jailed on Wednesday after a further hearing at the same court.

All three had pleaded guilty.

Fox, of Stumpacre, Bretton, had raped the unconscious woman after plying her with drink, jurors heard.

Police said she was "highly intoxicated" and incapable of giving consent.

Fox was also convicted of a perverting the course of justice offence.

Sentencing him, Judge Philip Grey said he had behaved in a "predatory fashion" and used the victim "like a sexual plaything".

He heard on Wednesday how Fox's relatives had attempted to pressure the victim into changing her story.

Police said they discovered Fox had asked them to contact the victim on his behalf so she would “realise how serious this was” and “give an accurate statement”.

The judge handed Smith, of Black Prince Avenue, Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, a jail term of three years, six months.

Jamie-Lee Fox, of Cleve Place, Eye, Peterborough, was jailed for two years, eight months.

Quinn-Gajdur, of Stumpacre, Bretton, was given a 16-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Lawyers representing all three offered mitigation.

A lawyer said Smith "didn’t really think through what he was doing" and his role could not be described as "sophisticated or planned”.

Jamie-Lee Fox had health problems and had been “naïve and unsophisticated", a lawyer said.

The court heard Quinn-Gajdur accepted her actions were “wrong and misguided” and that she "completely regrets" the part she played.

A court official said Fox had earlier pleaded guilty to commiting an act or acts "with intent to pervert the course of public justice".

That offence had been taken into account when he was given an 11-year sentence.