Derek Seekings: Police sergeant jailed for rape during break

Derek Seekings was told he will be on the sex offenders register indefinitely

A retired police sergeant has been jailed for raping a woman twice, including once while he was on duty.

Derek Seekings, 66, was convicted of two counts of rape between 1994 and 2000 at an earlier hearing at Brighton Crown Court.

Police said Seekings, of Southern Way, Farnborough, Hampshire, was a "controlling sexual perpetrator".

At a hearing at Lewes Crown Court, Judge Stephen Mooney sentenced him to 11 years in prison.

The judge told Seekings, who served with Surrey Police until 2005, that he would be on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

In a statement read out to the court, the woman, who described the trial as "harrowing", said: "I am nervous of phone numbers I do not know or when someone is unexpectedly at the door."

'Controlling sexual perpetrator'

Prosecutor Jennifer Gray said: "A clearly aggravating factor was the fact that the defendant was a serving police officer at the time, and count one took place while the defendant was on duty."

She told the jury during the trial: "She made it very clear to him she didn't want to have sex with him. He carried on regardless and he raped her."

The court was told that Seekings had been suspended from duty for a number of months and demoted to PC in the late 1990s following a car accident, which led to a driving conviction.

Judge Mooney told Seekings: "I acknowledge that prison will be difficult for you both as an ex-police officer and the current conditions."

Following sentencing, Det Con Becky Thomson, from Surrey Police, said: "The fact that Seekings is now facing life in prison for the next 11 years reflects the severity of his offending and the trauma and anguish he inflicted on his victim.

"Seekings was a controlling sexual perpetrator who wouldn't take no for an answer, and subjected his victim to sexual abuse over a six year period.

"I hope that the fact Seekings is now behind bars will give her some closure and help her move on with her life."

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