Rapist sues former landlord from jail

1:54pm Sunday 7th September 2008

Comments (4)   Have your say »

A serial rapist who sued his former landlord for wrongful eviction after he was jailed has won his court battle for damages.

Former debt collector Thomas Cope, 55, tied up his victim with a computer mouse cord before raping her twice.

He then held the terrified teenager in his flat for eight hours before eventually letting her go. He was jailed for life after a judge branded him ’a serious danger to women’.

But in a publicly-funded county court claim Cope successfully sued his landlady Melody Goymer for damages after she cleared his flat of his belongings.

The judge ruled that Mrs Goymer, 60, had unlawfully terminated Cope’s tenancy after she failed to seek a formal court order for possession of the flat in Hailsham.

Cope complained about the loss of a 20in television, computer desks, Sky box, coffee table and even tin openers which were put into storage.

He told Eastbourne County Court he felt angry and stressed because it has caused problems between himself and his wife.

Mrs Goymer said: “We had no contact from him and didn’t know where he was so we used a pass key to get into the flat which we found in a terrible condition.

“We assumed at the time that it looked as if he had done a runner and just left. There was no electricity and the food in the fridge freezer had rotted away.”

The court heard that Cope was jailed for four years for rape in 1976. Three years later he was jailed for eight years for two counts of rapes and false imprisonment.

In 1985, he was caged for five years for indecent assault, making threats to kill and assault causing harm and in 1990 he was jailed for ten years for attempted rape and assault causing harm.

Cope is serving a life sentence in Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight after being sentenced for rape at Hove Crown Court last year.

Deputy District Judge Smith awarded Cope just £750 of the £7,500 he claimed in damages. He also ordered Mrs Goymer to deliver Cope’s goods within 14 days.