Man threatened woman with gun as he raped her

Ryan Beard was convicted of multiple offences after a trial at Nottingham Crown Court in July

A man who twice raped a woman while threatening her with an imitation gun has been jailed for 15 years.

Ryan Beard attacked his victim in her home before she jumped from a first-floor window to escape him.

The 26-year-old defendant, who lived off Ollerton Road in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, denied raping the woman but was convicted after a trial in July.

Judge Michael Auty KC said Beard had subjected his victim to a campaign of coercive behaviour and stalking, degradation and humiliation, which had left her "broken" and living in daily terror.

A sentencing hearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday was told Beard filmed the two rapes, which happened on the same occasion, and sent one of them to a friend.

The judge told the victim she had shown remarkable courage giving evidence during the trial.

He said no-one who saw the recordings Beard made of the rapes could fail to to be horrified by them.

Mr Auty told Beard: "The gun was pointed at her and she begged you to shoot her, believing it was real, because by then she was so broken.

"She believed her life was at risk if she did not comply with what you wanted to do to her."

Beard, who was also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalking, intentional suffocation, and possessing an imitation firearm, was told he would serve three years on extended licence after his release.

He will serve jail terms for those offences concurrently to the rape sentence.

A restraining order was made barring him from contacting his victim.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.