Serial sex attacker banged up for 15 years

A dangerous local who raped a student threatened to shoot his victim if she screamed.

Thug Michael Ware followed the girl along Pershore Road, held a gun to her head and raped her in a graveyard.

He was then spotted two days later in the same location, following another girl while in possession of a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade.

The judge said a “significant degree” of planning took place before the assault after a damaged phone was found at the scene, which showed he had made rape related searches on the day of his attack.

Police used a CCTV image of the culprit to recognise Ware in the act and he has now been jailed for 15 years.

The rape took place in December last year, and the 19-year-old victim caught a train to King’s Norton after work where Ware followed her into a shop and then along Pershore Road.

He approached her from behind some trees, threatened her with a gun and told her he would shoot her if she screamed.

He then proceeded to drag the victim to a wall with a gun to her head, ordering her to strip before assaulting her.

Ware attempted to force his victim over a hedge in a park following the assault, but she grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger –– finding it empty.

He then attempted to regain his weapon and the victim escaped after a struggle.

23-year-old Ware, from Northfield, has been charged with two counts of rape, sexual assault, and possession of an imitation firearm and a knife.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, judge Simon Drew QC said he was certain that without the arrest, Ware would have gone on to commit more sex attacks and described what happened as “everyone’s worst nightmare”.

Defendant Devon Small blamed Ware’s difficult upbringing and problems forming relationships for the occurrences, saying “he feels disgusted with himself and ashamed of what he did”.

Judge Drew said: “There can be no doubt you thought through the process of what you wanted to do and executed it.

“It was sustained. It went on for a considerable period of time, more than half an hour: half an hour she will never be able to forget. Half an hour of sheer terror.

“You went out armed with a gun having looked at material on the internet and waited for the appropriate victim and you then followed them.

“There are strong grounds for suspecting that, on the night of your arrest, you had in mind the intention to commit a further similar series of offences.”

Ware has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and registered as a sex offender for life.