Neil Huggins was jailed for 19 years Pic: Metropolitan Police

A 38-year-old man was jailed yesterday for 19 years for raping, beating and keeping a woman captive.

Huggins of Dingwall Road, East Croydon was sentenced yesterday for false imprisonment, bodily harm, sexual assault and seven counts of rape.

Detective Sergeant Simon Sherlock, from the Met’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command said: “What Huggins inflicted on the victim demonstrated his total disregard for her as a human being. She was beaten, raped and humiliated on a daily basis for more than a week,”

According to Sherlock, at around 10.55pm on Tuesday 4 October the 20-year-old victim called police whilst in A&E at a South London hospital. She reported she had been raped, beaten a number of times and held against her will at an address in Grove Road, Thornton Heath.

Grove Road, Thornton Heath. Pic: Google

She recalled to officers he had become angry on either Friday September 23 or Saturday September 24 after going to see the man whom she knew.

Subsequently, this lead to Huggins locking the door and not letting the young woman leave the property.

The victim was trapped, she was unable to get out through any windows or find the key to the locked door.

Huggins urinated in her mouth; he whipped and choked her with a thick black cable until she was unable to breathe.

The perpetrator then took the woman outside for a ‘trial run’ to a nearby hair salon and warned her not to speak to anyone.

After speaking to staff he allowed her to talk to them too and she told them she didn’t want anything and left the premises.

She then boarded a bus alone and met a friend in Brixton who took her to the hospital and urged her to call the police.

Specialist officers took the women to a safe space and Huggins was arrested on Wednesday October 5 where he denied the accusations, he also said that she: “Could have got out of a window or a gap by the garage door.”

He was then charged the following day.

Sherlock added: “Huggins has failed to show any remorse for his despicable actions throughout. Huggins’ actions have undoubtedly had a lasting impact on the victim who continues to try to come to terms with what happened. This was a truly horrific attack and I must express my admiration for the victim to give evidence that has seen her attacker brought to justice. I can only hope that this sentence can assist in some way in helping her to move forward with her life.”