RAPIST JAILED FOR SIX YEARS
A man accused of raping a woman and coercively controlling another was sentenced after a trial that ended with a guilty verdict.The individual, who chose to turn over and sleep while his victim was crying, was led away from the courtroom and told he is likely to spend over forty years behind bars.
The defendant, Sean Milbourne, denied the charges of sexual assault and coercive control, but the court found him guilty.
He was remanded in custody at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.
The prosecutor, Wayne Cleaver, described Milbourne as a 'bully' who demanded compliance from women and resorted to physical abuse, including spitting and hair-pulling.
Victims delivered statements during the proceedings, recounting how Milbourne attempted to dominate them.
Milbourne, age 38, raped one woman after they went to a Christmas market in Bury St Edmunds in 2019.
During that day, he belittled her and excluded her from his social group.
At her home, he reacted with anger when she challenged him, then consumed a bottle of wine and returned with more.
Later, when they went to bed, he forcibly raped her despite her pleas and efforts to resist.
Afterwards, he simply turned over and fell asleep as she cried.
The victim spoke of feeling “numb” afterwards, and “coasting through life”.
It would take seven years for Milbourne to be brought to justice.
“Seeing Sean Milbourne in the dock will help me find closure I have so desperately been seeking,” the woman said.
The second victim, who was coercively controlled by Milbourne between July 2020 and April 2021, said: “I want him to know that despite everything, you don’t control my life.
I survived and I am learning to live again on my terms.” Milbourne would bombard her with messages and closely monitored the people she saw.
His efforts “made me doubt my reality”, the victim wrote.
She has since needed trauma therapy.
Judge David Wilson praised the victims’ “courage” for coming to court and giving evidence.
“[They] disclosed the true picture of who Sean Milbourne really is for the wider community,” he said.
Milbourne, formerly of Claverton Way, Rushmere St Andrew, was jailed by Judge Wilson for six years.
He will remain on the sex offenders register for life.
