Brian Witty rape trial: Jury to consider verdicts on former TA captain

A JURY is today expected to consider its verdicts on a man accused of raping three different women.

Banker and former TA captain Brian Witty, 42, was found guilty last year of three offences of rape and one of sexual assault against four different women.

Following publicity of the case in the Mail, three more women, including two from Hull, came forward to claim he raped them as well.

Summing up the case at Kingston-Upon-Thames Crown Court, Judge Nick Price QC said: "It was only when all the complainants in this case read or heard about the previous trial that they were persuaded to come forward and tell the authorities what had happened.

"The jury should know what it is that acted as a trigger for them to go to the police."

The judge said it was right for the jury to consider whether there was any pattern to Witty's behaviour towards women by being aware of his previous convictions.

But he warned the jury: "While this may show a propensity, it does not mean he has committed some or all of these rapes."

The current rape charges against the former Parachute Regiment soldier date from 1989, 1997 and 1998.

Witty, recently of Twickenham Road, Teddington, denies all three charges.

Giving evidence during the two-week trial, he claimed he had consensual sex with one of them but accused the other two of lying about even having intercourse with him.

The judge said the 1989 allegation involved a woman who he first met while at college in Hull.

He allegedly raped her after she moved to Liverpool to continue her studies.

The jury heard how Witty allegedly assaulted her in her room at the student halls of residence both before and after raping her, punching her at least 35 times.

The judge reminded the jury of her evidence in which she admitted feeling guilty about not coming forward earlier as she was afraid of upsetting her elderly parents.

She said: "It was the same reason I didn't tell anyone that he hit me. I was ashamed.

"When I finally told the police last year I felt guilt; guilty for other women I might have been able to prevent this happening to because I knew what he was like."

Judge Price said the woman's father had sent her a link to the previous case after reading a story about the trial in the Mail.

Defending, Mark Milligan-Smith urged jury members to look at each allegation separately.

"Examine the independent evidence and seek out where the truth lies," he said.

He said earlier, prosecutor Edmund Gritt described Witty as "charming and arrogant but also jealous and very violent".