Father-of-one jailed for date rape

A rapist who attacked a woman in a car park after meeting her in a Black Country nightclub has been jailed for five and half years.

Deepak Sehdev, aged 30, wooed his victim on a night out in Walsall and arranged to take her for a drink. But when the pair met up, he drove her to Coseley Working Men’s Club where he raped and sexually assaulted her in his car.

The father-of-one, of Gorway Road, Highgate, Walsall, was sentenced at Birm- ingham Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty of rape and sexual ass-ault at five-day trial in Wolv-erhampton last December.

The court heard the attack happened on August 13, 2008. Mr Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said: “The victim was taken somewhere in a car and put into a vulnerable position.”

Mr David Mason, defending, said his client on the night just didn’t know when to stop. “He has a stable family life and a young son. He is very well-liked and well thought of,” he added.

Judge Nicholas Webb told Sedhev: “The young woman believed you intended to take her for a drink but that was not your intention. When she refused your advances, you would not take no for an answer. You then raped her.

“She believed she was locked in the car. In her panic she was simply unable to open the car door. She was to that extent trapped.”

Judge Webb added the victim had suffered a “considerable loss of confidence.”

Speaking after the sentence, detective constable Darren Brown from Sedgley CID who investigated the case, said: “To see this man be given a custodial sentence is extremely satisfying for both his victim, and those of us who have investigated the case for the past 14 months.”

Sehdev was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.