Lee Savage (pictured) raped three women, with the first attack taking place months after he was found to have sent explicit images to a girl aged just 13
A serial rapist has been jailed for life after calling one victim he met through an online dating site she was his ‘b****’ and another that she must be ‘punished’.
Lee Savage raped three women he met through the social network, subjecting them to what a judge called ‘truly horrific ideals’.
The ‘sexual sadist’ sniggered at his first victim and raped her in her own home after making contact through Plenty of Fish.
Savage drove his second victim to secluded woodland near his home in Penrith, Cumbria, where he raped and sexually assaulted her.
The 25-year-old slapped the third woman across the face during their date, telling her: ‘You are my b**** now, you have to know who’s the boss.’
Despite denying the attacks throughout the case, he eventually pleaded guilty to five counts of rape, three of assault by penetration and two of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
Savage must serve a minimum of 11 years in jail after yesterday’s sentencing at Carlisle Crown Court.
The first rape was committed less than four months after being handed a community order for sending explicit images to a 13-year-old girl he befriended over Facebook.
Prosecutor Tim Evans said Savage attacked the women between January 2015 and early 2018 and involved a string of degrading sex assaults.
‘He was a man who got his kicks from being violent to – and dominating – women,’ he said, adding that he ‘threatened to batter’ the second victim.
When the third begged him to stop, Savage said: ‘Sorry babe, you have to know who is in charge and who’s the boss.’
In an impact statement, one victim said she felt the rapist had ‘violated my whole life’.
Another of the women – all of whom where from north-east England and Scotland – said: ‘Lee Savage has ruined a lot of the last few years of my life. Because of what he has done I am often upset.’
Sentencing Savage, Judge James Adkin told him: ‘You are, in my judgement, a sexual sadist.
‘You present a clear and imminent danger to young women of causing serious harm by virtue of your disposition towards the rape, humiliation and degradation of your sexual partners.
‘There are in this case, a multiplicity of victims, demonstrating a pattern of offending.’
Isla Chilton, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Savage only admitted the attacks in the face of ‘overwhelming evidence’.
‘Throughout the case he claimed that each of the women consented,’ she said. ‘However, we built a strong case against him which showed he threatened and used violence to force them into having sex with him.
‘We also applied to the court to introduce bad character evidence, detailing how he sexually assaulted a fourth woman in Scotland in very similar circumstances.
Savage was jailed for life at Carlisle Crown Court (pictured) which heard the first rape took place just months after he was found to have sent explicit images to a 13-year-old
‘Once faced with the overwhelming evidence against him, he was left with no other option than to plead guilty, albeit at the very last hour on the day of the trial.
‘I would like to thank the victims for their immense courage in coming forward and giving evidence against him, which has helped us bring him to justice for his deplorable actions.’
Cumbria Police’s Det Con Susanne Hayward said Savage is ‘a highly dangerous individual who has no respect for women’.
‘He subjected each of his victims to truly horrific ordeals,’ she said. ‘He would be persuasive and appear, when speaking online, a reasonable young man. This could not be further from the truth.
‘He has shown no remorse for what he has done to these women. Even when being sentenced he showed no emotion at all.
‘I would like to praise the bravery of the three victims. They have been so strong in disclosing what happened to them and have helped make sure that Savage cannot harm any other woman.
‘If there is anyone who is a victim of any sexual offence I would urge them to contact us.’
She warned singletons to be wary when using online dating sites as colleagues praised the victims’ bravery.
‘There are those, such as Savage, that use them to commit crime,’ she said. ‘Make sure the person you are talking to is the person they say they are before meeting.
‘When meeting for the first time, choose a public place and let a family member or friend know who you are meeting as well as when and where. If at any point you feel uncomfortable make your excuses and leave.’