University director jailed for 14 years after stunning sexual predator | UK | News | EUROtoday

A senior director at considered one of Britain’s most prestigious universities has been jailed for 14 years after being uncovered as a wicked sexual predator who attacked two girls who he attacked as they slept of their beds To the surface world Andrew Harston, 39, was a household man with robust spiritual religion who raised thousands and thousands of kilos to assist underprivileged college students discover a place at one of many nation’s prime seats of studying.

But in actuality he was a wicked intercourse beast who plied his victims with drink earlier than assaulting them after carrying them to their beds. As he was jailed a decide warned that he presents an ongoing menace to girls. Harston used his place as Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Durham University to achieve the belief of his second sufferer and sexually assaulted her whereas he was underneath investigation for his first assault. In each circumstances the ladies had been drunk after Harston had given them alcohol and each had been taken from their beds to be sexually assaulted. In the case of the primary sufferer she was in a drunken sleep alongside her associate when Harston entered their room, fastidiously lifted her from her mattress and dedicated critical sexual assaults on her whereas she lay on the ground.

Sentencing him to 14 years in jail at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Jonathan Carroll mentioned there had been a component of planning in each of father-of-three Harston’s assaults.

He informed him: “I accept there are two sides to your character. There is the decent, hard working, conscientious man, the family man image that you present to the public, the charitable, religious role you present to the world.

“But there’s additionally the opposite darkish aspect of you, the sexual predator in you.

“You lack insight and remorse and struggle to accept your responsibility in what you have done. You are and are likely to remain at high risk of further offences against women.”

Harston’s sexual assaults towards the girl had “catastrophic consequences” for each, destroying each their skilled and private lives.

They trusted him partly due to his extremely paid position at Durham, answerable for international fundraising and engagement with the college’s 185,000 alumni world wide.

He is credited with main the primary part of the Durham Inspired marketing campaign to lift £50m, which was aimed toward giving promising college students from low revenue households the prospect to check on the prestigious institution.

In her affect assertion to the court docket, his second sufferer accused him of utilizing his influential place to win her belief after which intimidate her into staying silent for months in regards to the sexual ordeal he put her via.

The court docket heard he successfully “poured drink down her throat” at a dinner in January 2022 and later plucked her from the mattress wherein she was sleeping in the midst of the night time.

When she got here spherical the next morning she found she was in a special room within the mattress wherein Harston had been sleeping, her underwear having been interfered with.

Harston mentioned to her: “I bet you were confused waking up in (my) bed.”

In her assertion the girl informed the court docket: “His senior position at the university enabled him to carry out the assault, knowing I could not speak up against him.”

She continued: “How can he do this to women when he has two daughters, a good job, a family life and a religious faith?

“He seems like a real first rate particular person however he used this picture to commit a sexual assault towards me. I discover it really disturbing that he did this to me while already underneath police investigation.”

The first assault happened at a party at a property in Yarm, Teesside, in November 2020.

The victim and her partner had been in attendance and she had been given so much drink by Harston that she felt sick and went to an upstairs bathroom.

After she and her partner had gone to bed, Harston waited two hours until he was sure both were asleep before creeping into their room and carefully lifting the woman from the bed onto the floor.

She came round during the sustained assault to find Harston with his hand clamped over her mouth while biting her chest. He went on to commit further invasive sexual assaults upon her as she drifted in and out of intoxicated sleep.

In her statement to the court the woman said: “The trauma of that night time has left me on remedy for anxiousness and had modified the girl I’m. He used manipulation in order that he might abuse me.

“He has turned my life upside down and ruined my life through his actions.

“I nonetheless have occasional flashbacks of him placing his hand over my mouth and telling me ‘sshhh.'”

Sophie Johnstone, mitigating, presented glowing references about Harston’s character and achievements at the university, saying he was a man of “hitherto good character.”

She said he had two daughters aged 15 and 12 and a son aged 10 months from a more recent relationship with a Mexican woman who would now be unable to stay in the UK due to his jailing.

Ms Johnstone said: “His child son will develop up along with his father incarcerated for a major proportion of his younger years, it will have a profound affect on them each.”

Judge Carroll said there had been “vital planning” in both attacks.

In the first he had plotted by himself for two hours, turning out lights so as not to wake his intended victim of her partner and inventing a cover story about returning her phone if either of them

awoke.

In the second attack he “poured alcohol down her throat at a price that beggars perception” with the intention of decreasing her to a state the place he might sexually assault her.

Harston, from Durham, denied sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration on the primary sufferer and sexual assault on the second.

But he was unanimously discovered responsible of all 4 expenses by a jury at his trial final month.

After sentencing on Wednesday Ian Lowther of Crown Prosecution Service North East, mentioned: “Andrew Harston is a sexual predator who assaulted his victims as they were asleep. In both cases, the victims awoke to the terrifying experience of finding Harston in the process of carrying

out sexual assaults upon them.

“Throughout the course of this trial, Andrew Harston has tried to minimise his responsibility for these attacks, falsely claiming that any sexual activity with his victims was entirely consensual.

“The Crown Prosecutions Service has worked closely with our police partners to build a robust case, which clearly shows that neither of Harston’s victims possessed the capacity to give informed consent to sexual activity at the time he carried out these attacks, and that there was no way that Harston could have reasonably believed that they had.

“Our thoughts remain with his victims, and we sincerely hope that they take some measure of comfort from seeing their attacker jailed today.”

Detective Sergeant Clare Riley, from Durham Constabulary mentioned: “Whilst under investigation for sexual offences in Cleveland, Harston went on to commit further offences here in Durham.

“He showed extremely concerning predatory behaviour and above all showed no remorse for his actions by continuing to target further victims.

“I would like to praise the victim in this case who has found the criminal process extremely hard, having to relive what Harston put her through. I hope she can now move on with her life knowing he has been brought to justice.”