Andrew Check was caught because of his 'distinctive trainers'
A “stressed” porn addict who climbed through a woman’s window and subjected her to a terrifying knifepoint sex attack was caught after a distinctive shoe print was left at the scene.
Police discovered a mark from a Fred Perry trainer which then enabled them to link the “callous” assault to Andrew Check while they were carrying out house-to-house inquiries in Tenby, Pembrokeshire.
On Monday Swansea Crown Court heard how the 30-year-old adult pornography addict got on top of the woman in the early hours of January 9 after climbing through a window and assaulted her while holding a knife to her throat.
Check, who was handed an extended sentence after Judge Keith Thomas said he posed a risk of committing further serious offences, was jailed for 10 years.
Nicola Powell, prosecuting, said the woman started to fight but stopped for her own safety.
She spoke to him after he said “I can’t do this any more” in the middle of sexually assaulting her and he said he was “stressed and did not have a girlfriend”.
He added: “The good side of me says I should not do these things but the bad side says I should.”
The court heard the woman told Check she would not be able to identify him and even offered him a lift home in an attempt to defuse the situation.
Eventually he left and told her to call the police, which she did.
Dyfed-Powys Police analysed the shoe print found by crime scene investigators using scanning equipment and a national database containing almost 38,000 images of footwear prints.
Officers then spotted a pair of Fred Perry trainers matching the description at Check’s
The shoes turned out not to match the scene footprint but were enough to arouse suspicions and the victim’s DNA was later found on a glove in his home.
Check, of Greenhill Avenue, Tenby, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by penetration at an earlier hearing.
In a video victim impact statement played to the court the woman said her life had been changed “completely and irrevocably”.
She said her first thought when she woke to find Check in her room brandishing a large serrated knife was of bemusement as she believed she must be dreaming.
She said: “I was terrified and in fear for my life but I realised that screaming and resistance were futile because no one could hear me.
“At one point I got hold of the knife but I remember thinking ‘I have never stabbed anyone before and I don’t know how to do it’.
“I told him I would not struggle any more, told him to do what he needed to do and then leave.”
The woman added that in the aftermath of the assault she was treated for a number of injuries and was still being tested for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and that she suffers from nightmares, anxiety, panic attacks and found it difficult to sleep.
The court heard Check was cautioned by police in 2011 for possessing indecent images of children.
Catherine Richards, for the defence, said: “The defendant has repeatedly expressed his remorse.
“He has been struggling to understand how he could do what he did. He has a lack of recall.”
Sentencing him, Judge Keith Thomas said the assault had been “callous”.
He said: “Such an offence rightly frightens and horrifies people in equal measure.
“The thought that such an offence can be committed by someone living in a community sends shock waves through the community.”
Check was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus seven years extended licence.
After the hearing Nicola Powell, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “What happened to the victim was truly frightening and the guilty plea removed the need for her to relive the incident at court.
"Her cooperation throughout this process has led to Andrew Check being brought to justice.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/porn-addict-bar-manager-who-12804144
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