Wigan rapist re-jailed for his fifth sex offenders' register breach

Wigan and Leigh magistrates heard that John Darbyshire, who was given a five-year sentence for a vicious rape back in 1995, had failed once more to inform the authorities of a change of address.

And the 45-year-old of Falkirk Grove, Norley, has now also been convicted of two counts of assault by beating after a trial.

This is not the first time Darbyshire has been re-jailed for register infringements.

In September 2018 he was given 16 weeks for missing unpaid work sessions and failing to tell police that he had moved home. In 2017 he was given a suspended jail term and unpaid work for not notifying them of a move.

And now the same court has given him another 16 weeks behind bars.

The hearing was told that Darbyshire must sign on the sex offenders’ register for life following his conviction for a sex attack in Hindley quarter of a century ago.

Darbyshire was 20 and living in Ince when he attacked a 22-year-old woman to whom he had only just been introduced by a mutual friend.

The woman had told the jury that Darbyshire raped her while they had gone out walking to get cigarettes on November 24 1994.

He suddenly took hold of her and threw her on to a grass verge. She screamed and struggled but he pinned her down and raped her.

The court heard that nearby girls heard her screaming after her ordeal and ran for help. Police arrived at the scene and found her in a distressed state.

Darbyshire denied the crime, saying that intercourse was consensual but he was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court after a second trial, the jury having been unable to reach a verdict after the first.

Appearing before the Wigan bench again this week, Darbyshire pleaded guilty to breaching the 2003 Sex Offences Act.

The chair of magistrates told him he was being returned to prison because he had a “flagrant disregard for court orders and that this was his fifth breach.”

Darbyshire had denied assaulting Rachael and Joshua Horan on March 8, but was found guilty after a trial by magistrates earlier this month. They imposed eight-week concurrent sentences for each off the offences and they will run consecutively to the register breach punishment, so the total term is 24 weeks.

He was also ordered to pay £50 to each of his victims.

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