Victim treated with ‘utter contempt’
A RAPIST has been sentenced to seven years’ youth detention in the Royal Court.
Bailey Loveridge, 20, will also face five years of strict supervision when he is released, which includes needing permission to use anything which can connect to the internet.
He had denied indecently assaulting and raping a female in a St Peter Port location in 2019, and indecently assaulting a female under 16 in February 2020, but was found guilty of all charges in the Royal Court.
Judge Russell Finch said he had treated one of his victims with ‘utter contempt’ and had targeted vulnerable people. He added that there was an element of power and violence in the offending.
‘These were serious and worrying crimes,’ he said.
In terms of the case, there was very limited mitigation and Loveridge’s not guilty pleas meant the victims had faced giving evidence.
The court noted that Loveridge had used social media to groom the females in both cases and that he was an ongoing sexual risk to females.
A victim impact statement from the rape victim was read to the court.
She said that after the incident she became depressed and felt worthless. Her family had helped support her back into education, but there she faced accusations about the incident and she ended up leaving again as she did not want to risk seeing the defendant.
She said she only made it through thanks to her family and now she wanted to try to not think about the incident ever again.
Defence advocate Phoebe Cobb said her client continued to deny the charges.
In mitigation she asked the court to note that Loveridge had a number of difficulties in his personal life, as well as autism and ADHD. This impacted on how he interacted socially and he had struggled to integrate into society.
The case had already impacted him, as he had been threatened and it had made it difficult for him to find work.
Advocate Cobb said her client was expecting a sentence of youth detention and hoped to use that time to get new skills and qualifications.
She asked to court to not impose a ban on social media for her client, as she argued this would isolate him when he tried to reintegrate into society, but the court rejected this.
Loveridge was sentenced to six years youth detention for the rape and 18 months, concurrent, for the indecent assault on the same victim. He was given a further 12 months youth detention for the second indecent assault, which was committed while he was on bail for the first matter.
Once released he will then face a five-year extended sentence with compulsory supervision. This includes a number of conditions about where he can live, whether he can leave the island, and what job he can hold. It is also means he cannot have access to an internet-enabled device without permission from his supervisor.
He also has to comply with a 10-year notification order, which runs from the date of his conviction.
