Lorry driver jailed for raping woman he snatched off street in east London

 
The victim was assaulted at Romford Rugby Club
PA
Paul Cheston8 December 2014
WEST END FINAL

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A lorry driver who snatched a woman off the street and raped her in the grounds of a rugby club has been jailed for nine years.

Steven Murdoch, 36, spotted his victim making her way home from a night out in Romford. The 30-year-old woman had become separated from her group and was walking to a friend’s home in the early hours.

Murdoch parked his car in the grounds of Romford Rugby Club and followed on foot before hitting her over the head. He threw her over his shoulder, with CCTV footage showing him running with her through the entrance of the club.

The woman tried to dial 999 but he punched her, snatched the phone and raped her repeatedly.

Richard Germain, prosecuting, told the court that Murdoch handed back the phone and began to weep.

He was tracked down after police searched through hours of CCTV footage to match fragments of the number plate of his Vauxhall Astra from different clips. He was arrested at his home in Dumfries, Scotland. Murdoch admitted two charges of rape and one count of assault by beating at Snaresbrook crown court.

Piers Mostyn, defending, said Murdoch had recently separated from his partner and had been living in his lorry for three weeks before the attack.

Sentencing Murdoch to nine years in prison, Judge Sheelagh Canavan said: “In September this year your victim’s world was a normal one, she went out with her friends, she had a few drinks, she was having a pleasant evening.

“It was a perfectly normal world and a perfectly normal life and you took that from her — whatever I do with you today I can’t give back what you took from her.” She added: “What you did was heinous, it was wicked, it was awful and your sentence in no way reflects the impact on your victim of what you did to her, I can only wish her well for the future.”

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register and barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.

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