A scaffolder who raped two woman and harassed another has been jailed for nine years.
Marc Partridge, of Slaidburn Drive, Accrington, asked one victim ‘how do you feel being locked in a house with a rapist?’.
Another victim was grabbed by the throat before the 28-year-old told her ‘if you want me to show you I am a man I will show you’, Preston Crown Court heard.
Partridge pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of harassment and smirked in the dock as he was jailed for nine years and given indefinite restraining orders against all three victims.
Sarah Johnston, prosecuting, told the court he used ‘acts of force and sexual violence’.
Miss Johnston told the court Partridge grabbed one victim by the throat and told her ‘if you don’t take your knickers off I am going to rip them off’.
Miss Johnston told the court that the victim felt ‘terrified’ and ‘scared he could kill her’.
He then told her ‘if you want me to show you I am a man I will show you’ before raping her.
Preston Crown Court heard how Partridge was arrested and raped his second victim while on bail.
Partridge covered her mouth to ‘muffle her complaints’ and she ‘submitted in fear of what he would do’, the court heard.
When she tried to leave he told her she was ‘not going anywhere’.
Miss Johnston told the court that afterwards he pushed her against a wall and asked her to hit him back so he could hit her in response.
He then got a knife and threatened to stab her, the court was told.
Miss Johnston said Partridge then admitted to her that he had raped before and asked her ‘How do you feel being locked in a house with a rapist?’.
He was arrested again and told officers the harassment victim was ‘violent, unpredictable and unhinged’ and had made up the allegations.
He told police he had been ‘painted as an ogre’ and was ‘never violent’.
Brendan O’Leary, defending, said Partridge deserved some credit for pleading guilty on the second day of trial meaning the victims did not have to give evidence to a jury.
He said he was a ‘a hard-working young man’ who had enrolled onto a university course to teach physical education.
He told the court: “He comes from a law-abiding family. Clearly by virtue of his guilty pleas he has issues and anger management issues.”
Judge Andrew Woolman said it was ‘dreadful behaviour’.
Sentencing, he said: “Each of these victims showed they are terrified as a result of what you did and has left them shaken.
“The effect on them doesn’t go so far as serious harm but I suspect that’s not how they feel about it they feel they have been seriously harmed. Maybe you do need psychiatric help.
“Your conduct shows you maybe a dangerous individual but I’m not going to sentence you to that sort of sentence. That’s reserved for dangerous individuals.”
Speaking after the sentence, the harassment victim told the Observer that the sentence was ‘too lenient’.
She said: “I think it’s a very light sentence.
“I think the judge has been extremely lenient. He was smirking and laughing on the way down. He was very happy
“The effect it has had on me is not as bad as the other two women. I wanted to come here (to court) and watch him go down.”
