A JUDGE has criticised police and prosecutors for ignoring a prostitute's rape allegation - leaving a Sheffield boxer free to rape two more women.
Heavyweight fighter John Paul King, aged 33, denied raping all three women, two of whom were prostitutes, but he was convicted by a jury at Sheffield Crown Court.
Serial sex attacker King, of Welwyn Road, Gleadless, who stands at 6ft 6ins tall, was given three life sentences for the rapes and will not be considered for parole for at least eight years.
The separate attacks took place in April 2004, April 2006 and February 2007 but the prosecution was only brought when West Yorkshire Police undertook a review of cases.
King's first victim was a prostitute who he attacked in his car behind a sex shop in Attercliffe.
She told the court she reported the attack to South Yorkshire Police on the night it happened, handed in her clothing and had swabs taken but she was not contacted again until two-and-a-half years later.
In that time King went on to attack two more girls - one he picked up in Sheffield and took to a car park in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and a second Sheffield prostitute in a Neepsend car park.
During the third attack King, who was handed a 12 month suspension from boxing in 2005 after verbally abusing a referee and pushing him during a fight at Rotherham's Magna Centre, knocked his victim unconscious.
King had been due take on former Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison - who would have been his most well-known opponent - in October at Sheffield Arena but the fight was cancelled because he was arrested for the rapes.
A review of all three incidents by West Yorkshire Police's Homicide and Major Enquiry Team in partnership with the complex casework unit of the CPS led to the prosecution being brought.
Det Supt Tim Forber, of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: "John Paul King is a predatory sex offender who took advantage of young, vulnerable women whom he did not think would complain or would not be believed if they did.
"The violence used in some cases was extreme and the length of the sentence given by the courts reflects the seriousness of the crime."
Jailing him, Judge Trevor Barber described King as "arrogant" and said he was "devoid of humanity and conscience".
"You are a serious sexual predator whose behaviour beggars belief," he said.
After the sentence, Judge Barber addressed the Crown Prosecution Service and said had it not been for review, King might never have been brought to justice.
"Someone, somewhere took the decision not to prosecute," he said.
"There were three allegations against the same block.
"One of his victims was found curled up in a ball crying her eyes out and another had physical injuries."
Prosecutor Jeremy Hill-Baker said: "Your concerns are shared by everyone on the prosecution team."
The court also heard that King was awaiting trial for three allegations of assault occasioning actual body harm following an incident in a nightclub, which may now be dropped because of his sentence.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Sheffield ... 3590935.jp
