A MAN who filmed himself raping an unconscious woman has been jailed for seven years.

Lee Sean Malcolm Howden had denied raping and sexually assaulting the woman as she slept but was convicted after a trial at York Crown Court this week.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson said to him, during a cross examination: “You’re the sort of person who gets your kicks out of filming other people secretly.”

To which Howden replied: “No.”

Earlier the prosecuting barrister had said Howden knew the woman was easily affected by alcohol and the prosecution alleged Howden had used drink to get her to pass out.

The jury convicted him of raping and sexually assaulting the sleeping woman with a vibrator.

“She simply didn’t know what was going on,” Judge Andrew Stubbs QC said as he jailed Howden for seven years for those offences.

“It has had a dreadful impact upon your victim.”

In a victim personal statement, the woman said she was physically sick and “absolutely mortified” when she was shown the videos Howden had taken.

She had lost her job through being off work as a result of his crimes and had had to move house because she was terrified Howden would come for her.

It had also badly affected her mental health.

Howden, 39, formerly of Hensall near Selby, had denied all charges.

He claimed the woman had consented to the sex acts he filmed and consented to them being filmed.

This was the second time a jury had convicted Howden of sexual crimes involving filming his victims.

In the other case in 2015, a different York jury convicted Howden of three charges of indecently assaulting a teenager and voyeurism by taking videos and photos of her using his mobile phone’s camera.

While he was serving five years for those offences, the videos of the unconscious woman were found and police started a new investigation into him. 

Collectively he has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.