Man with bent penis jailed for eight years for raping woman after drunken night out

 A man with a bent penis who raped a woman as she lay asleep on the sofa has been jailed for eight years.

Paul Lee, 32, stripped his 23-year-old victim and raped her after a boozy night out.

He denied the charges and claimed he never has one-night stands because he suffers from Peyronie’s disease, known as ‘bent penis syndrome’.

He told a court how it bends to the left and is embarrassing to show to women until after he is in a loving relationship.

But after a three day trial a jury of six men and six women at Gloucester Crown Court convicted him of raping the woman on November 18 2012.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC told Lee he had been “convicted on the clearest possible evidence of sexually interfering with this highly vulnerable young woman”.

He added: “You couldn’t resist the temptation for whatever reason to have your way with her. “

The jury heard how the woman had been out clubbing with friends in Gloucester and they all returned to her friend’s home in the early hours of the morning.

Lee, who had not known any of the group, had tagged along with them and fell asleep in the living room of the flat.

When the others could not rouse him he was left sleeping in an armchair while the woman slept on the sofa fully clothed.

But after the female flat owner had gone to bed Lee stripped off and then took the woman’s clothes off and subjected her to some degree of violence before having sex with her as she slept.

In a victim impact statement the woman, described how the offence has affected her, underlining the prolonged psychological damage rape can cause.

She said: “My life has been affected in so many ways.

“The offence has made me very nervous of public places and I am not confident going to the gym.

“Before the attack I was almost over-confident but now I check everyone in detail and make sure I know a way out of the room in any situation.

“I ended up leaving my job because it was too difficult to face and I felt vulnerable in an all male environment.

“I was not a negative person but now I always imagine the worse and see unknown males as possible attackers.”