Supporters of a former taxi driver who dragged a teenage girl into his apartment and hugged her during a horrific attack wept while in prison.
A woman watching from the public gallery shouted “no” and shouted when John Stanley was sentenced to 11 years in prison, of which at least seven will have to serve behind bars. The 35-year-old cheated on the 17-year-old girl in his car in 2018 and later forced her into his apartment before strangling her in bed. She managed to escape only after hitting him on the head and escaping from the apartment
Stanley denied false imprisonment, but was convicted by a jury in Liverpool’s Royal Courts of Justice earlier this year. Yesterday, during the hearing of the sentence, the court heard how in the early hours of October 3, 2018, he persuaded the girl in his car, along with a friend and an unidentified man with whom they spoke.
READ MORE:A man dragged a 17-year-old girl into an apartment and hugged her to the door
He told her she needed help to get home, and she later told police she had tried to help him, although he was uncomfortable. However, when Stanley left the club, he quickly left the girl’s friend and the other man apart and then took the girl to an apartment.
She protested all the way, begged him to call a taxi and said she wanted to leave. He ignored her, dragged her to the apartment by the head, and locked them inside.
After she rejected sexual progress, he nailed her to the bed and strangled her until she hit him with a high heel. Then she managed to find the keys to the apartment and escape.
Despite evidence of video surveillance showing Stanley, the girl, her boyfriend and the other man getting into his car, he denied seeing her tonight. Although the girl was initially unable to tell police who attacked her officers, they tracked down the car’s registration with Stanley, and she later confirmed his identity as the man who attacked her.
Jurors spotted him and sentenced him to false imprisonment in May. It later appeared that Stanley admitted some of what had happened in interviews with the probation service, though not everything the girl said.
Judge Brian Cummings, QC, said the chronology of the events outlined by the girl was true and criticized Stanley for “minimizing” what he did, even after he was found guilty. Referring to the testimony given by the girl and the police, Judge Cummings said: “These are the actual facts of the case, not the false and minimizing version you gave in the report before the verdict. It was a horrific ordeal for the victim. “
Judge Cummings said Stanley posed a threat to the public and sentenced him to an extended sentence of 11 years. He will have to serve at least seven in custody before qualifying for parole. Two Stanley supporters watching from the public gallery were upset when the judge handed down his sentence. A woman immediately began to cry when a visibly angry man comforted her.
Judge Cummings suspended the verdict after the reaction. He said: “I know the tension is growing, but I need to be able to continue passing sentence without interruption.”
The couple then left the court, although the man later returned to hear the rest of Stanley’s sentence, which includes a restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim and a warrant for criminal conduct, which means he he will have to inform the authorities of his sentence before seeking certain types of employment.
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