Rapist jailed after attack on sleeping woman

Gary Conibear offered to walk his victim home before he attacked her

A woman who developed agoraphobia after being raped says "no justice can erase what happened" after her attacker was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

Gary Conibear, 33, was found guilty of rape following a trial at Winchester Crown Court in July.

Conibear, of Churchill Close in Tidworth, Wiltshire, had met the woman on a night out in June 2022 and offered to walk her home, where they both fell asleep fully clothes and she later woke up to find him raping her.

In a statement read to the court she said: "The assault didn't just happen in a moment. It infected every part of my life."

The trial heard the pair had played pool and had some drinks before Conibear offered to walk his victim home.

"No words will ever truly capture how these last three years have broken, changed, and reshaped me," she said.

"I need you to understand what was taken from me, what I've survived, and what I still carry every single day."

"I stopped leaving my house. For 18 months, I was locked away from the world, gripped by fear, shame, and agoraphobia.

'My peace was stolen'

"There is no justice that can erase what happened. There is no sentence long enough that can give me back the years I've lost, the nights I've cried, the peace that was stolen from me.

"But I'm here. I am still standing, scarred, yes, but not silenced."

On October 6, Judge Rufus Taylor sentenced Conibear to 90 months prison and imposed an indefinite restraining order preventing him from having direct or indirect contact with the survivor.

Lead officer in the case, Detective Constable Sue Elway, said: "I would like to recognise the courage of the survivor in this case, who has had to endure an unimaginable personal struggle in the wake of this ordeal.

"Conibear will now be deprived of liberty for a substantial period - I hope that he reflects upon his selfish and despicable actions and the harm he has caused.," she added.