An obsessed man who kept a woman prisoner in his house for days to “use her as a sex slave” has been found guilty of repeatedly raping her.
Thomas Patton was also found guilty of keeping her prisoner and assaulting her, but not guilty of two counts of rape, which were alleged to have taken place months before she was held captive.
A jury took just two hours and two minutes to return their verdict on the seventh day of a trial at Leeds Crown Court .
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was medically examined in hospital and faced more than three hours of questioning in court.
The jury heard that Patton was “obsessed” with his victim and he threatened to hurt her family and damage their property if she did not agree to meet him .
After the Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival, she went to the 21-year-old’s house on Leeds Road in Deighton to talk to him, but once she was inside he locked the door and snapped her mobile phone in half.
Stephen Wood, prosecuting, said: “He said to [her]: ‘Nah, you’re not going anywhere. This is going to be the worst night of your life. I’m just gonna beat you and rape you.’
“Locked in that house, [she] went to the windows and was banging on them screaming. But the defendant ran over to her, put his hand over her mouth and threw her onto the sofa.
“He told her that if she did not ‘shut the f*** up’ he would ‘f***ing hurt her.’”
Patton, who in the past had told the woman she was “nothing but a dog”, slapped her repeatedly and even brandished a knife before telling her he was going use her as a sex slave.
He raped her repeatedly over the following days.
The young woman managed to escape after her concerned father came to the door on the morning of the second day she was held captive. Patton opened the door and the woman ran out.
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Patton, who had pleaded guilty to criminal damage in relation to the mobile phone, claimed that the sex was consensual and that the woman “enjoys rough sex”.
Several witnesses gave evidence in court claiming the woman had told them she was lying about the allegations.
The not guilty verdicts were in relation to earlier alleged offences against the same woman.
Patton was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 9.
