A 58-year-old man from Tarner Road in Brighton has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for the rape of two women. Andrew Mellis appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Monday, March 6, for sentencing, having been found guilty by unanimous verdict in July of last year of four counts of rape.
The first three offenses came to light during an investigation into an assault, with a second woman coming forward to report a further offense. Victim impact statements were read out in court, detailing the long-term effects of Mellis’s crimes on the two women.
HHJ Christine Laing, the presiding judge, described the crimes inflicted on Mellis’s victims as ‘brutal’ and deemed him ‘a dangerous man’. In addition to sentencing him to 14 years, she also ordered an additional four years on license in the light of the threat he posed. Mellis will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life.
Detective Constable Stewart Cameron, from Sussex Police’s Brighton safeguarding unit, praised the two women for their courage in coming forward and providing accounts of the harrowing abuse they suffered. He said that Mellis showed no remorse for what he did and subjected the women to the ordeal of having to stand in court to go through what happened to them all over again.
Cameron added that the case demonstrated that it’s never too late to report offenses of this nature, and that Sussex Police would take reports very seriously, no matter how long ago they occurred. He encouraged victims to report to Sussex Police online or by calling 101, and urged anyone in imminent danger to call 999 immediately.
