Midlands ex-soldier 'with gun fascination' refuses to go to court for rape sentence

An ex-soldier 'fascinated with guns' refused to go to court for his rape sentencing. Cowardly David Poppitt did not leave his cell to find out his fate after being convicted of his sex attack.

The 39-year-old refused to appear at court either in person or on a video-link for his sentencing hearing. But a judge continued with the hearing and jailed him for 25 years.

It came after Poppitt claimed he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder after not being deployed to Afghanistan. He was instead kicked out of the army for drinking and drug abuse, a court heard.

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Derby Crown Court heard how Poppitt - of Lodge Row, Mapperley, near Ilkeston - left a shotgun in sight when he carried out one sex attack on his victim. Prosecutor Siward James-Moore said: "He had spent a short time serving in the army and had an obsession with firearms.

"In her victim impact statement she said 'a shotgun was lying there on the floor on the first time he sexually violated me'." In a statement read to the court, the victim told how the 'nightmare' of what happened to her 'will always be there', DerbyshireLive reports.

Gregor Purcell, defending, said: "In terms of risk, he has previous convictions for matters of violence nothing similar to this." Sentencing, Judge Martin Hurst said: "Poppitt does not accept any wrongdoing, blaming others and even telling a member of the probation’s liaison and diversion team that he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of not, I repeat not, being deployed to Afghanistan, when he was not deployed because he was discharged from the army for drunken behaviour and drug abuse.

"[In my opinion] Poppitt does pose a significant risk of committing further specified offences. I find he has a fascination with guns, running in and out of [his] house holding them while under the influence of ketamine.

"He has a total lack of insight into his behaviour." Poppitt denied rape and stood trial but was convicted by jurors. The defendant - who was arrested in March - was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.