Detectives have praised a woman’s role in helping put a rapist behind bars after she recorded his attacks on her phone.
Leon Bryan was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 13 years and 146 days on Friday (28 February) as punishment for subjecting her to a sadistic campaign of sexual and emotional abuse.
The 36-year-old raped and sexually assaulted the same woman on multiple occasions at an address in Nottingham, between 2021 and 2022.
Throughout the same period, Bryan also left his victim fearing for her safety after threatening to kill her, while also making several sinister comments about sexually assaulting her.
A court heard Bryan was “obsessed with rape” and repeatedly brought up the subject to the woman, who he forced to watch TV documentaries with him about rape.
He also subjected her to controlling and coercive throughout the same period and forced her to support him financially.
Unbeknownst to Bryan, his catalogue of sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse was being documented by his victim – with the woman managing to record audio clips of the different incidents on her phone.
She then showcased the immense bravery needed to report the abuse to the police and share the evidence she’d gathered.
Bryan, of Bethnal Walk, Bulwell, denied the multiple charges of rape put to him, along with a sexual assault, threats to kill, and engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour.
A jury saw through his lies following a two-week trial last November however, as they found him guilty of three counts of rape and the rest of the offences too.
He returned to Nottingham Crown Court on Friday to learn his fate. As well as the life sentence, he was handed an indefinite restraining order and placed on the sex offenders’ register.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Harry Cooper, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“The victim in this case deserves immense credit for the bravery she showed, both while the abuse was happening and afterwards too by reporting it to the police.
“The audio clips she managed to record of Bryan’s crimes were harrowing in the extreme for our investigating officers to hear, while I imagine it would’ve been the same for the jury too.
“Despite denying doing anything wrong and making the woman relive everything that happened to her again during the trial, the jury thankfully saw through Bryan’s lies and saw him for the despicable person he is.
“This would’ve been a lot harder to prove without the recorded evidence provided by the victim, who we all have the utmost admiration for.
“We hope the strong sentence issued to Bryan will provide her with some small degree of comfort, and that it encourages more victims of rape and sexual assault to have the confidence to report offenders, so that we can put them before the courts.”
