Life sentence for rape of prostitutes

A man who raped three Stoke-on-Trent prostitutes and stabbed another was jailed for life on Thursday.

Burns victim Martin Rogers told one of his victims that he fantasized about what it would be like to kill a prostitute.

At Derby Crown Court on Thursday, Rogers, of Oxford Road, Fegg Hayes, Stoke, admitted three counts of rape, one of wounding and an offence of robbery.

Prosecutor Jason Aris said that Rogers attacked three of his victims in the Burslem area of Stoke during one evening in January this year.

Knife-point attack

The court also heard that he had raped a 22-year-old prostitute in the same area a month earlier.

She had been subjected to a knife-point attack before he stole her night's earnings.

Barry Cliffe, defending, said that Rogers had been psychologically damaged by severe burns he received as a child in a house fire.

Judge Pugsley rejected one doctor's report which said that Rogers did not pose a high risk to women.

Passing sentence, he told Rogers that he was a danger to women and the public needed protecting from him.

He also sentenced Rogers to six years each for the offences of robbery and wounding, to be served concurrently.