April 2022 Brighton man sentenced for rape of teenage girl A Brighton man who 17 years ago had repeatedly raped a teenage girl he met in a pub, has now faced justice with a nine-year prison sentence. Mark David Hughes, 36, of Vernon Terrace, Brighton, was sentenced at Brighton Crown Court on Monday 25 April, have been found guilty of raping the girl three times during a night in April 2006 after they had met through mutual friends in a since closed Lewes Road pub. He will be a registered sex offender for life. Instead of taking her home, Hughes took her to a succession of open spaces in the area to commit the offences before leaving her in Saunders Park, where she eventually awoke and made her own way home, dishevelled and covered in mud.