Sex attacker is jailed for rape after getting caught when he messaged his victim on Facebook

A sexual attacker was convicted of rape after he was caught messaging his victim.

Nathan Thorburn, 25, messaged the victim on Facebook saying he wanted “some kind of closure.”

He raped a woman in a student house while she was unconscious in Cardiff in 2019.

The rapist forced herself upon her until she woke up in the middle of the attack because of the immense pain, according to wales online.

The predator, who has previous convictions, apologized the next day but gave her no explanation.

He received an extended sentence of 13 years consisting of a nine-year prison term with an extended four-year license at Cardiff Crown Court

Years later, in 2022, Thorburn contacted the victim and asked to discuss what had happened because he wanted “closure.”

Cardiff Crown Court learned this week that the couple had been drinking alcohol and at the end of the night Thornburn offered to put her to bed as she kept losing consciousness.

Sometimes the victim thought he was her boyfriend and “didn’t know Thorburn was on top of her.”

Prosecutor James Wilson added that the woman was “in pain and wanted to scream” but “could only howl.”

The victim told police she was unaware of the full extent of what he had done to her and that she would initially “take the grave” to cope.

She did not know if he was wearing a condom and described herself as “defiled, dirty, mean and disgusting” about what the defendant had done and “felt like a corpse” as it happened.

Thorburn, from Kingsway, Cardiff, was sent to prison in 2019 on an unrelated case and was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention (SHPO) order.

After his release from prison, he contacted the victim via Facebook messenger, the victim in turn accused him of “massage his ego” by turning to the woman he raped to exonerate him of his guilt

He wrote, “Hey. Can we talk? I wanted to talk about the situation about me and you before going to jail. I think I knew what I was doing was wrong and I want some sort of closure I guess.

“I think it’s good to talk to that person about these things to make sure. Things have been going on in my head for a long time that I want to put to rest.’

Her answer was, ‘I don’t even know where to start. I can close you in one simple sentence. You are a rapist.

“First of all, for you to even message me is incredibly selfish and selfish. I’ve re-read the message you sent and can count how many times you say “I”.

“You want closure because it’s on your mind? You want to get closure for attacking me when I was drunk, passed out and vulnerable and put me to bed. I never get closure. For me it lasts a lifetime.’

The victim then blocked him before compiling the messages into a document that he distributed to a sexual assault referral service.

The document was retrieved by the defendant’s offender manager who visited him on June 13, 2022. The victim was later identified and formally questioned.

He was arrested and pleaded guilty to rape and violation of a SHPO after he was found to have cleared his internet history.

The rapist was previously convicted of accessing indecent images of children who were first convicted in 2019 of accessing 14 Category A images, 19 Category B images and 149 Category C images.

He was later convicted of another count of accessing indecent photos of a child in January 2020, as well as a violation of a SHPO who viewed images of raped children.

In a statement read in court, the victim said the incident is “a lifelong scab that will stick with me forever and ever.”

Hilary Roberts, for Thorburn, said that while the mitigation for his client was ‘little’, he had acknowledged his behavior was ‘wrong’, which disturbed and frightened him.

He received an extended 13-year sentence, consisting of a nine-year prison term with an extended four-year license term.

Thorburn will serve two-thirds of the custodial portion of the sentence before being eligible for parole.

If released, he will serve the remaining term of the suspended prison sentence before serving the extended license period.

He was also subject to a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting or approaching the victim or entering any premises where she lives, works or studies.

He will now be on the sex offender registry for life.