Leicester rapist strangled and tried to suffocate partner

A man who strangled one former partner and tried to suffocate another has been jailed for rape and controlling or coercive behaviour.

Dean Final, 32, admitted physical, sexual and emotional abuse of two former partners, one of whom he raped on two occasions.

Appearing for sentencing at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Final was jailed for 11 years and eight months.

The court previously heard he controlled both of his victims by restricting their contact with family and friends, and verbally abused them.

Final, of no fixed address, will be on licence for three years after his prison sentence and was also handed a sexual harm prevention order as well as a restraining order.

He admitted controlling or coercive behaviour, intentional strangulation and three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his first victim in Burnley, Lancashire.

The controlling behaviour was during their relationship between October 2020 and October 2023, during which time he restricted her contact with friends and family.

Final also admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal when he turned violent towards his partner’s pet dog.

The dog was later put down as a result of the abuse, the court heard.

Final was arrested over these offences in October 2023 and bailed.

He then started a relationship with his second victim in October 2023 and moved into her home in Leicester, where characteristics from his previous relationship continued.

Paul Raudnitz KC, prosecuting, told the court Final used to steal her phone or keys to restrict her movements, made her send photos to him to prove she was at work, and accused him of cheating.

In February 2024, while the second victim was pregnant with Final’s child, he attempted to have sex with her and became angry when she refused.

He raped her on two occasions and tried to suffocate her, before she was able to escape and inform the police, and Final was arrested, the court heard.

In relation to the victim in Leicester, Final admitted two counts of rape, one count of controlling or coercive behaviour in June, with a further count of suffocation left to lie on file.

Both victim impact statements were read out by Mr Raudnitz in court, detailing the trauma Final had subjected them to. Both said they feared he would come back to “finish the job”.

In mitigation, James Varley said: “As a young man, [Final] suffered significantly at the hands of those who should have cared for him.

“It is perhaps no surprise Mr Final has spent his life searching for a stable, loving relationship.

“He does not know how to create one and that is the problem.”

Recorder Jacob Hallam KC told the court in mitigation he had also shown remorse and had taken steps in prison to deal with underlying offending behaviour.

Charlotte Caulton-Scott, head of the rape and serious sexual offences unit at Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) East Midlands, said Final was “a violent, manipulative and controlling individual”.

“He is where he belongs now, where he cannot do any more harm to women,” she added.

The second victim said in a police interview Final’s eyes were closed when he raped her, the CPS said, so the service put together a “robust legal argument” to challenge any claims that he was affected by “sexsomnia”.

Following legal argument, “sexsomnia” was excluded from the defence’s case.

Sexsomnia is where perpetrators claim to have committed sex offences in their sleep, the CPS said.

To advance a genuine defence of sexsomnia, or non-insane automatism, the defence must prove to a jury that the defendant was able to act without knowing it and that it was an established condition, with a medical expert report required.

Prosecutors put forward evidence that the defendant had no history of sleep issues before or after the rape, and therefore any sexsomnia would have started and stopped for the attacks on the victim alone, the CPS added.

Ms Caulton-Scott said: “There was absolutely no merit in claiming he had not been in control because of sexsomnia.

“Prosecutors recognised immediately that this was just an attempt to shirk responsibility for his violent conduct.

“We will continue to challenge the myth of sexsomnia because in the vast majority of cases, it is simply not justified.”