A man found guilty of raping two women has been given an extended sentence totalling 18 years.
Andrew Mellis, 58, of Tarner Road, Brighton, was jailed for 14 years at Lewes Crown Court yesterday (Monday 6 March) and ordered to serve a further four years on licence.
Mellis was convicted of four counts of rape by a jury who returned a unanimous verdict in August last year after a six-day trial.
The first three offences came to light during a police investigation – then another woman came forward to report a further offence.
Sussex Police said: “The two women had ‘victim impact statements’ read out to the court detailing the impact and long-term effects that Mellis’s crimes had had upon them over many years.
“Judge Christine Laing said that the crimes he had inflicted on his victims were ‘brutal’ and that he should feel shame at the way he had abused them.
“She deemed him ‘a dangerous man’ and, in sentencing him to 14 years, she added a further four years in the light of the threat that he posed.
“He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life.”
Detective Constable Stewart Cameron, from Sussex Police’s Brighton Safeguarding Unit, said: “Both of these women have shown huge amounts of coverage in coming forward and providing accounts of the harrowing abuse they suffered at the hands of Andrew Mellis.
“He has shown no remorse for what he did to them, subjecting them to the ordeal of having to stand in court to go through what happened to them all over again.
“This required enormous strength and bravery and it is thanks to them that justice has finally caught up with this evil man.
“I appreciate that this is something that will stay with them forever but I hope that the verdict and the sentence will go some way to helping them rebuild their lives.
“The case also demonstrates that it’s never too late to report offences of this nature. We will take reports very seriously, no matter how long ago they occurred, and your report will be handled sensitively and compassionately.”
