A HARWELL man has been jailed for five years after being found guilty of raping a woman who sold him a pedigree dog.

Stephen Tuggey, a 42-year-old window fitter, answered an advertisement to give a home to the dog, which the owner was forced to sell because of ill health.

He drove to Wales to meet his victim, who was unaware of his sex offence record dating back more than 25 years, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

After Tuggey, of Didcot Road, Harwell, bought the dog, he phoned the 57-year-old woman — who cannot be named for legal reasons — to give updates on the pet.

She accepted his offer to drive more than 100 miles back to her Cardiff home so her daughter could see how the dog was doing.

She agreed Tuggey could stay the night in a spare room, but he later crept into her bed and put his hand over her mouth before forcing the woman to have sex with him.

Tuggey denied rape and sexual assault. He claimed the woman wanted sex and was crying rape because she changed her mind.

However, a jury convicted him after a trial a month ago by a majority of 11 to one.

The court then heard how in 1986, Tuggey was convicted of indecently assaulting four women in the Didcot area.

Two months after the assaults, he rode after a female cyclist and groped her.

In 1995, he spotted a jogger and waited until she came past him before pulling down his trousers and exposing himself.

At a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge William Gaskell told Tuggey he considered him a risk to women.

He gave him a five-year custodial sentence along with an extended three-year licence that would enable the authorities to complete a sex offenders’ programme with him.

He added: “Your victim was a lady in her late 50s who allowed you to stay the night in her home when it was agreed you bring the dog.

“You took advantage of being there and entered her bedroom.

“She did not want you in the room and made it clear you were unwelcome, but you started to touch her and when she said she would shout for her daughter, you put a hand over her mouth, sexually assaulted and raped her.

The daughter was there when her mother confronted Tuggey, who only replied to her rape allegation: “I thought we were making love”.

He later phoned the police in a bid to cover himself, saying he had been set up over the dog and a false rape claim was about to be made against him.

Tuggey was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.