A CARLISLE man was told he faces “years and years” behind bars for the violent rapes of two women.
Ian Beal, 55, went on trial at the city’s crown court having denied a total of 19 charges arising out of allegations made by the two females.
Having heard all evidence in the case, a jury of eight men and four women today (THURS) convicted Beal, unanimously, on two rape charges. These reflected sex attacks on two females committed years apart.
Beal was also found guilty of sexually assaulting one of the victims on more than one occasion.
During the trial, jurors watched footage of interviews both women had given to police.
One described a specific violent incident. “He raped me. I was crying ‘no’. I was begging him to leave me alone. But he just carried on anyway,” she told an officer. “I was saying ‘no’. I was crying ‘no’.
The woman added: “He knew I didn’t want it.”
Beal, of Spencer Street, denied committing any crime, claiming allegations had been “maliciously made”.
In view of the jury’s guilty verdicts, Judge James Adkin adjourned the case. He directed the probation service to prepare a report which assesses the risk posed by Beal of committing offences in the future.
Judge Adkin told Beal, a heating engineer, he was due to be sentenced at the crown court on November 26, and remanded him in custody in the meantime.
“The sentence in your case is inevitably prison, and prison for years and years, because of the seriousness of these offences,” said the judge.
Beal – a man with no previous convictions – was found not guilty, unanimously, of a further 16 charges. Fifteen of these had alleged rapes and sexual assaults.
