Liam Allen, 22 (pictured outside Lewes Crown Court) was sentenced to eight years in prison for the rape, which happened after a Sussex University freshers night out in October 2016
The social secretary of a university Royal Navy unit has been jailed after he violently raped another student after a freshers’ week pub crawl.
Liam Allen, 22, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the attack, which happened after a Sussex University freshers night out in October 2016.
Allen, of Brighton, insisted on walking his victim home after a drunken bar crawl in the city and claimed he needed to charge his phone before getting the bus.
She then fell asleep in her flat to him raping her. She told him to stop but he carried on.
His victim, 20, gave a harrowing victim impact statement at Lewes Crown Court, describing how she now suffers from anxiety and depression and had to abandon her degree.
Allen, wearing a black suit with his hair dyed blonde, showed no emotion as His Honour Judge Roger Chapple sent him to prison.
‘It is altogether obvious that what you did has had the most profound effect on your victim,’ the judge said.
‘It was at time harrowing listening to her distress and to read and listen to that Victim Impact Statement which was taken only a couple of days ago.
‘I can only hope she can start to rebuild her life although you have left a permanent mark on her.
‘She was obviously particularly vulnerable due to the drink she had consumed.
‘She was very close to being comatose with drink. Incapable at times of even moving.
‘What makes matters unpalatable too, is the offence happened in her own home, in her own bedroom.
‘The place she should feel safest. Under the pretence of making sure she was safe, you raped her.’
Allen attacked the young woman in her bed following the Freshers Week pub crawl round Brighton in October 2016.
He insisted on taking the woman and her friend back to their student flat in the city.
Allen, 22, who hoped to work for the Navy or GCHQ when he graduated, organised a pub crawl round the city for his Sussex University Royal Navy Unit.
His victim told police she had drunk heavily after going out during themed Freshers Week night out and could not remember getting home.
She woke to find the defendant on top of her.
‘I said stop, he pinned me down, he was holding my arms, I couldn’t move him off. I was trying to push him off me and he was holding me harder.
‘He was just stopping me from moving. I think I tried to sit up.
‘Every time I said Stop, he would just hold me down again.’
![Pictured: Liam Allen has been jailed for raping a fellow student after a night out in Brighton](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/15/17/4D45E42200000578-5848957-image-a-58_1529078787888.jpg)
Pictured: Liam Allen has been jailed for raping a fellow student after a night out in Brighton
Asked how she felt, the young woman said: ‘Horrible. I didn’t want it to happen.’
In a harrowing victim impact statement, the victim said: ‘My mum became disabled when I was about 13 and I missed out a lot of my childhood as her carer.
‘University was my chance to grow. I was starting my new life, finding out who I was and gaining confidence.
‘I had a picture of where my life was going. I cannot talk about that day or say the words of what has happened.
‘I could not keep going to the university campus I would see the defendant there and I would panic.
‘I stopped studies in January after stopping the degree I had worked so hard for.
‘Even now intimacy is very difficult for me and this is not what a couple in their early 20s should be living though.
‘We left Brighton, a place we loved, in August 2017. I often wake from nightmares.
‘I cannot even go to the corner shop without someone going with me. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting help. I’ve been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
‘I am unable to work or face studying and rarely leave the house and cannot face studying.
‘The police investigation was hard to live though my video interview was awful.
‘Having to use words I cannot even think about let alone say. To hear the lies he said about me and my relationship in court makes me feel sick.
‘It was an overwhelming experience which will never leave me. The tablets help a bit.
‘I’m a pathetic, weak version of me. I don’t want to think this is my life but I don’t see my future.’
Allen said he was lonely and knew the attack was sick and twisted when he was confronted with the attack by his victims boyfriend.
He put his number into her phone and sent messages thanking her for a good night, the court heard.
Her boyfriend recorded the call to Allen the day after the attack.
After the phone call, Allen searched online for information on being accused of rape, the minimum sentence for rape and CPS guidelines for rape.
In a dramatic final day of deliberations, the jury asked to see the police video taped interview with the victim.
They were called back into court where the recording was played for them a second time and His Honour Judge Chappel went over his notes of her evidence.
The jury took just over an hour longer to reach their unanimous decision to find Allen guilty of rape.
Allen had used his time in the witness box to rant about his mistrust of the legal system.
By coincidence, Allen has the same name as another student who was falsely accused of rape.
Detective Constable Aran Boyt of the Brighton Safeguarding Investigations Unit said: ‘Allen had organised the pub crawl round the city during themed Freshers Week night out for his Sussex University ‘Navy Society’ Royal Navy Unit in October 2016.
‘The victim told us she had drunk heavily and woke to find Allen on top of her, having held her down and raped her in her own student flat.
‘She tried to sit up and stop him but he just held her down, and this young woman was in such a state she was incapable of consenting to sex, so Allen took advantage of her state.
‘The day after the alleged rape, Allen spoke on the phone to the victim and her boyfriend, saying he was lonely and she was a good looking girl.
‘He said he was sick and twisted for sleeping with her but alleged that she was able to consent.’
‘He clearly thought about his options after the event, because when we searched his mobile phone we found search terms including ‘accused of rape’, ‘minimum sentence for rape’ and ‘CPS guidelines for rape’.
‘This was a complex investigation but we were careful throughout to ensure that every possible aspect was explored so that the court was able to consider the full picture in arriving at a verdict.
‘The victim was traumatised by this experience and has left her university course.
‘We have worked to help her and give her access to further sources of counselling, which everyone reporting such an offence is entitled to, no matter what the circumstances.’