Rapist jailed for assaulting four women over 20 years

A rapist has been jailed for 18 years after he attacked four women whilst they were asleep over a period of 22 years.

Shaun Smith, of Bernwood Road in Barton, had been accused of assaulting four women in Oxford and Hastings between 2000 and 2022.

Following a trial at Oxford Crown Court earlier this month, the 47-year-old was found guilty of one count of rape, one count of sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration.

At the same court on Wednesday, Smith was sentenced to 18 years in prison and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

He was also issued with restraining orders for each of his victims.

Explaining Smith's offences, Thames Valley Police (TVP) said he had raped a teenager in Oxford in 2000, before sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s in Hastings in 2012.

He then went on to sexually assault two women in their 30s in Oxford in 2017 and 2022.

Police said each attack had happened whilst the victims had been asleep and were unable to consent to what was happening.

Having initially been arrested in 2017, Smith was again apprehended in December 2022, before being charged two years later.

Det Sgt Chris Bennett commended the "incredible bravery" of Smith's victim's in coming forward: "Without their determination, courage and support we may never have known about Smith's offending and it would have been much harder to bring him to justice."

Bennett added: "Smith has proven himself to be a serial sex offender who preys on women while they are asleep and at their most vulnerable, unable to consent.

"Cases like this are the reason I became an officer and being able to bring dangerous predators like Smith to justice makes me proud to be a detective."