‘Warped’ sex attacker, 30, who drugged and raped four men he met on gay dating app Grindr is jailed

A gay man who drugged and raped men he met on the dating app Grindr has been jailed for 23 years.

Sam Ashley, also known as Sam Davis, sexually assaulted four men in a series of horrific incidents spanning six months.   

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the 30-year-old insurance worker spiked a university student’s drink and raped him when he ‘blacked out’. 

The student in his 20s said ‘forceful’ Ashley had sex with him while he dipped in and out of consciousness and was ‘concentrating on trying to figure out where I was and just stop the room spinning’.

Ashley was found guilty of four charges of rape, four counts of administering a substance with intent and two charges of attempted rape.

Thirty-year-old predator Sam Ashley drugged victims’ drinks before attacking them. One man revealed how he woke up surrounded by sex toys which had been used on him 

One of his other three victims was an HIV sufferer who ‘lost count of the number of times he said no’ and abusing another who was spiked while drinking a cup of tea.

Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants, heard Ashley met three of his victims on gay dating app Grindr and the other at a rugby club.

As well as slipping drugs in their drinks, Ashley spiked one man by giving him a ‘headache tablet’ the victim thought was paracetamol or ibuprofen.

One of the rape victims, who was being treated for HIV, was given an ‘ultimatum’ to meet Ashley who lied and said he had ‘terminal colon cancer’.

Today at Portsmouth Crown Court Ashley was jailed for 23 years as he was branded ‘dangerous, calculating and manipulative’.

Last month Ashley, from Fareham, Hants, was convicted of four counts of rape, two attempted rapes, and four counts of administering a substance with intent.

Today he fought back tears as David Melville QC sentenced him and banned him from using Grindr and forming a sexual relationship without telling police.

Judge Melville QC said: ‘You made every step which was needed, so far as you saw it, in your warped way of thinking in order to overcome their reluctance and allow you to get up close when their barriers were down.

‘There’s a pattern of behaviour here – it’s dangerous in my judgment.

‘There you are, just imagine, you found it possible to get those drugs, you used them when you wanted to on innocent victims, one of whom was already seriously ill.

‘You took serious advantage of them and of course that was repeated on four occasions, all put into effect to make it easy for you by the use of the Grindr website, an easy way to meet those in the gay community.

‘And of course if you met with reluctance you had a wheeze, a final one – you told them you were dying of cancer.

‘This was calculated behaviour, it was deliberate and awful.’

During the trial, the court heard from Ashley’s victims.

The university student said Ashley poured him a glass of strawberry and lime Kopparberg as he watched football on TV at Ashley’s then home in Portsmouth.

In a video played to jurors, the student said: ‘I had a couple of sips, it wasn’t even a quarter of the glass.

‘I sort of felt a bit shaky and wobbly then, not starting to spin but like I was on a boat in the middle of the sea.

‘We kissed and it went blank. The next thing I remember – he was behind me and we were having sex.

‘He was quite forceful and I remember I sort of gripped the pillow and I was more concentrating on trying to figure out where I was and just stop the room spinning.

Sam Ashley has been jailed for 23 years for drugging and raping men he met on the dating app Grindr

Sam Ashley has been jailed for 23 years for drugging and raping men he met on the dating app Grindr

‘I just wanted the room to stop spinning so I could figure out what was going on.

‘Things went black again and he was pushing my head down on to his penis.’

He described Ashley as ‘desperate for reassurance’ and said during the abuse Ashley asked him ‘I love you, do you love me?’

One complainant, who met him on Grindr, said he felt unwell after drinking tea with Ashley and woke up to discover sex toys laying on the bed which were used on him.

Another was given ‘two tablets’ when he complained of a headache and was later left feeling ‘sore’.

It was also revealed in court Ashley had been convicted in 2013 of two charges of indecent assault against a boy under the age of 14.

Detective Inspector James Stewart, from Hampshire Constabulary, said outside court: ‘Samuel Ashley is a dangerous, calculating and manipulative individual who committed some of the most serious offences against multiple victims.’

Lindsay Pennell, from CPS, said: ‘Ashley administered drugs, without the knowledge or consent of the four men by putting it in their drinks or, on one occasion, giving tablets for a headache, leading him to believe they were paracetamol or ibuprofen.

‘On more than three occasions, Ashley went on to rape or attempted to rape three of the victims while they were stupefied as a result of consuming the drugs, GHB, diazepam, zopiclone or a combination thereof.’

Drugs were found in the rapist’s bedside table when he was arrested. 

Lindsay Pennell, of the CPS, said: ‘Ashley met three of his victims on the dating app Grindr and one at a rugby club in 2016.

‘On four of these occasions, Ashley administered drugs, without the knowledge or consent of the four men by putting it in their drinks or, on one occasion, giving tablets for a headache, leading him to believe they were paracetamol or ibuprofen.

‘On more than three occasions, Ashley went on to rape or attempted to rape three of the victims while they were stupefied as a result of consuming the drugs, GHB, diazepam, zopiclone or a combination.

‘Ashley denied all 10 charges but the Crown Prosecution Service worked closely with the police to build a strong case to include the victim’s accounts and expert evidence from a consultant toxicologist which saw the jury return guilty verdicts.

‘I would like to commend the victims for their courage in coming forward and for supporting the prosecution.’ 



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