‘Monster’ rapist branded as ‘arrogant and selfish tyrant’ and has been in cage for 29 years

A rapist who abused a woman and a child was branded a “monster” and locked in a cage for 29 years.

Abuser Martin Hayes, from Teesside, repeatedly denied raping his two victims in court and forced the women to relive the abuse. Teesside Crown Court heard he carried out the attacks in Middlesbrough in the 1990s and branded the women liars when they reported the abuse.

Summing up the case, Judge Jonathan Carroll said Hayes’ first victim was a young woman when he committed the abuse, while his other victim was a secondary school-aged child. In one of the attacks, Hayes raped the young woman in a remote rural rest stop, and in another he raped the then child victim in another rural location.

After a nine-day trial, the 62-year-old was convicted of the following crimes against the first victim:

He was convicted of the following charges against his then underage victim:

Harrowing statements were read out in court on behalf of the victims. The younger plaintiff said that the abuse drove her to suicide and called the defendant a “monster.”

She said: “When you sexually abused and raped that little girl, you had no regard for the future you stole from her. You tried so desperately to discredit and slander me as a person. You brought me to the point more than once where I tried to end my life.

“You have been exposed for what you really are: a lying pedophile. You are a monster. You will never understand the true pain and damage you have caused to your victims. You have tainted my body, soul and spirit with all of your toxic, abusive methods that will never leave me.”

His other victim said her life had been “torture” since the rape and hoped to find happiness after Hayes’ conviction. She said: “Since those incidents, my life has been chaos and torture.”

“I’m much more mindful of my personal safety in social situations. I hope that once this case is over, I can have emotional closure and move on with my life for myself and my family. We all need to start living happy lives again.”

In mitigation, the court noted that Hayes had no relevant previous convictions and had not committed any crimes in the past 30 years. It was claimed that he had been a “hardworking” man and had built a successful career.

However, in giving his verdict, Judge Carroll said the defendant had been victim-blamed during the trial and that his abuse had had lifelong effects on the women.

He added: “Each of the plaintiffs was, for different reasons, deeply vulnerable when you began to sexually abuse them. Throughout the case and your crimes, you have proven yourself to be an arrogant and selfish bully.”

“You are a serial offender who sexually abuses women and young girls.”

Hayes, of Durham Prison, was sentenced to 29 years in prison and was told he must serve two-thirds of the sentence before being eligible for parole.

He was given a restraining order prohibiting him from having contact with the victims and was placed on the sex offenders’ registry for life. When Hayes’ verdict was read in the courtroom, applause could be heard from the public gallery.

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