A former film student who repeatedly raped two women and sexually assaulted a third while they slept has been warned he faces a possible life sentence.
Connor Yaxley, 30, claimed he was “dreaming” when he had sex with two women, arguing he was unaware of his actions.
He was found guilty of all charges after a nine-day trial at Norwich Crown Court.
Yaxley, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, had denied three counts of rape against a woman between December 2017 and December 2019, two counts of rape against a second woman between April 2018 and August 2020, and the sexual assault of a third woman in August 2020.
It took the jury just six hours to convict him on all charges.
A former film student who repeatedly raped two women and sexually assaulted a third while they slept has been warned he could face life in prison. Connor Yaxley, 30, claimed he was “dreaming” when he had sex with two women, arguing he was unaware of his actions.
Yaxley was found guilty of all charges following a nine-day trial at Norwich Crown Court. The first victim told the court that Yaxley had used the excuse of being asleep on multiple occasions.
The first victim told the court that Yaxley had used the excuse of being asleep on multiple occasions.
Another woman described waking up twice from a deep sleep to find Yaxley having sex with her, despite previously telling him she did not want to have sex.
During the trial, prosecutor Andrew Thompson stressed that consent requires freedom and capacity, neither of which are possible when a person is asleep.
She argued that Yaxley’s actions demonstrated a refusal to take “no” for an answer and described his behaviour as that of a rapist.
Judge Andrew Shaw, who presided over the case, described the offences as “extremely serious”.
Judge Shaw said he had “the gravest of concerns” about Yaxley and would be considering not only a “very long prison sentence” but also “potentially a life sentence”.
The first woman told the court that Yaxley had repeatedly used the excuse that the sex had occurred while he was dreaming.
On another occasion, she claimed that the former film student told her that he had accidentally penetrated her while they were both sleeping.
At the time of the attacks, he was studying film at the University of Suffolk, based at East Coast College in Great Yarmouth. Despite his claims in court that all sexual encounters were consensual, the jury unanimously rejected his defence.
The other rape victim said in a recorded police interview that she had woken up twice from a “deep sleep” to find Yaxley having sex with her.
Giving evidence to the court from behind a screen, the woman said the second time it happened after she got into bed with Yaxley and told him she did not want to have sex.
The woman said she had a tendency to sleep deeply and that it took her a while to wake up and understand what was happening.
When she regained consciousness, she realized that Yaxley had been having sex with her without her consent.
She told the court: “I thought he was asleep, I woke him up and asked him why. He said he didn’t remember and that he must have done it in his dreams, that he was very sorry and that he didn’t know what he was doing.”
During questioning, she was asked if she had accepted his explanation at the time that the sexual act had taken place while he was asleep. She replied: “So, I accepted it.”
On a third occasion, she said she woke up to find Yaxley playing intimately with her and that she then consented to sex.
She went on to say that she only realized her actions had been wrong when she spoke to a friend.
Prosecutor Andrew Thompson said Yaxley also told police in an interview that he did things “unwittingly because he was dreaming at the time”.
Yaxley also told officers he was prone to having bad nightmares and had woken up to find himself having sex with one of the women.
The court heard how he had also sexually assaulted a third woman by touching her intimately while she slept in a chair at his home.
Mr Thompson described the alleged incident in August 2020 as “unwanted contact that was clearly sexual”.
The prosecutor said a person can only consent to sexual relations by “choice” and if they have the “freedom and capacity to make that decision.”
He added that a sleeping woman – ‘the same as if she were an unconscious woman’ – could not consent to sexual conduct that took place ‘while she is asleep’.
Mr Thompson told the jury that when Yaxley “wants it, he won’t take no for an answer”.
He added: “This is a person who cannot stop himself and does not see sleeping women as a reason to control himself. We say that is the behaviour of a rapist.”
Yaxley was taken into police custody following the verdict.
At the time of the attacks, he was studying film at the University of Suffolk, based at East Coast College in Great Yarmouth.
Despite his claims in court that all sexual encounters were consensual, the jury unanimously rejected his defense.
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