Man jailed after woman raped

A man has been sentenced to 10 years after he admitted raping a woman in Stafford.

Abiola Raji, 32, of Stafford, was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court yesterday (Thursday 23 January) after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to raping a woman.

At about 8pm on Sunday 21 April last year, a woman was walking near to the Vine Hotel on Salters Street when she was approached by Raji and attacked.

We carried out urgent enquiries to track him down and support the survivor as soon as it was reported later the same night.

We issued an appeal for information and looked over CCTV from the scene, leading to Raji’s arrest on 1 May the same year.

Officers worked hard to gather all the evidence available to take Raji to court, where he eventually pleaded guilty to the offence.

He was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment, with an extended license period of thee years and four months. He was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

DC Ryan Barber, from our rape and serious sexual offences unit (RASSO), said: “I’d like to thank the members of the public who came forward with information at the time to help us identify Raji and put him before the courts for his crime.

“I’d also like to recognise the tremendous bravery of the survivor to come forward and say what happened to her.

“Through her courage and the work of officers, we’ve been able to put a dangerous sex offender behind bars.”

If you’ve been a victim of a sexual offence and you want to speak to us in confidence, call 101 or use Live Chat on our website.

We’re determined to support survivors of sexual crimes and target those responsible as robustly as possible in Staffordshire.