Former footballer raped a sixth-form student while she slept.

Former footballer jailed for raping sleeping student

Terry Nicholas, 36, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for raping a sixth-form student while she slept. The incident occurred in the summer of 2021 after Nicholas met the 17-year-old girl at a pub.

Nicholas, who had been drinking, invited the girl and a group of friends back to his home. The victim, who was "completely out of it", went to bed, and Nicholas, after telling others he was "just going to the toilet", snuck into her room and began assaulting her.

The victim woke up during the attack and pushed Nicholas away. He then told her and another woman to leave his house.

Nicholas, of Jubilee Road in Buckley, was found guilty by a jury at Mold Crown Court. The court heard that Nicholas had bought cocaine that night, as he was a "casual user", and the judge believed that having sex with the woman was his "clear intention."

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the young woman said she had experienced "constant uneasiness" around men since the attack and dreaded going to sleep due to "night terrors" and the feeling that "someone was back on top of her". She also described enduring a "depressive episode" and struggling with "self-worth".

Nicholas's defense attorney, Martyn Walsh, argued that his client had a "reasonable career" playing football for local teams and had "no offences of a sexual nature on his record". However, the judge, Simon Mills, expressed concern about Nicholas's attitude, pointing out that he had made "misogynistic" comments suggesting he didn't need to commit sexual offences to sleep with women.

Judge Mills sentenced Nicholas to eight and a half years in prison, declaring him a sex offender for life. He condemned Nicholas's lack of remorse, stating: "You raped her and treated her with contempt. And in effect, that's what you've done ever since. You've not shown a shred of remorse, let alone recognition, for what you did. You provided misogynistic views verging on an attitude you could not care less about what you're facing. I urge you to take a long, hard look at yourself, the way you act, the way you treat women and the way you think."