At the High Court in Glasgow Judge Gillian Wade imposed an extended sentence of 18 years and 10 months on Liam Sharpe after he was convicted of 9 charges involving serious domestic abuse and multiple rapes of three women.
The Custodial period was set at 13 years and 10 months with an extension period of 5 years.
On sentencing Judge Gillian Wade made the following remarks in court:
"Liam Sharpe after a six day trial at Glasgow High Court you were convicted of 9 charges involving serious domestic abuse and multiple rapes of three women. All of your victims were in intimate relationships with you and had been over various periods of time.
The offending of which you were convicted on this indictment spanned a period in excess of 9 years. However the jury also heard about 9 more incidents of serious domestic abuse perpetrated against two of the women who are also named on this indictment and indeed their children. This offending continued for 8 years. You are currently serving an 8 year extended sentence with a custodial part of 4 years and 3 months in respect of those offences. Your earliest release date would have been in January 2027.
Each of your victims described the same pattern of control, abuse and manipulation set against your habitual substance abuse. The rapes took place against a background of violence and fear and in relation to one woman resulted in injury.
I have had the benefit of Victim Impact Statements from the three victims which make clear the profound and lasting effect your behaviour has had upon them.
Your record of previous convictions dates back to 2008. It is not particularly extensive and the offending is generally of a minor character but does disclose a disregard for court orders and non-compliance with community measures designed to protect the public. Your more recent convictions mark a significant escalation in your offending behaviour. In addition, the various reports I have make clear you take only minimal responsibility for your actions preferring to blame your victims and your substance abuse for the situation in which you find yourself. You are described as callous, lacking in empathy, shallow and manipulative.
Although the Crown did not initially seek a risk assessment report, the nature and extent of your convictions together with the conclusions of the JSWR obliged me to consider whether the risk criteria, supportive of an order for lifelong restriction, were met.
I now have the benefit of a very full risk assessment report with which you offered cooperation. The author of the report concludes that you present as a medium risk towards intimate partners and that, in the absence of successful treatment to address the causes of your behaviour, that risk is highly likely to manifest itself in the future.
However the author also assesses that there is reason to believe that you may be amenable to change and concludes that your risks are manageable with appropriate measures such that an order for lifelong restriction may not be indicated. For the reasons given in the report I accept that conclusion. However I also accept that you will require a lengthy period in custody in order that the requisite interventions can take place and that this should be followed by a significant period of supervision in the community upon your eventual release.
I have taken into account everything which has been said on your behalf and note that your position remains one of denial in relation to any of the sexual offending, which restricts what your counsel can say about remorse, responsibility or insight into your offending.
My sentence proceeds on the basis of the evidence which I and the jury heard and upon which they convicted you.
Your behaviour whether attributable to your drug addiction or not was cruel, threatening and intimidating. Your paranoia and propensity to violence was self-evident and the tone and nature of your abusive messaging reinforces that view. In sentencing you today, considerations of punishment, deterrence and public protection are in the forefront of my mind.
I am satisfied that the normal period of licence to which you would be subject following your release from custody, would not be adequate to protect the public, and in particular any intimate partner, from the risk of serious harm that you are likely to continue to pose.
I will therefore impose an extended sentence, comprising a custodial element and a period of post release supervision, known as an extension period.
Dealing first with custodial part of your sentence I have grouped the charges pertaining to the individual complainers together and assessed the seriousness of the offending, the harm which you have caused and the various aggravations along with the identified mitigating and protective factors.
Although I will be imposing a cumulative sentence to reflect the overall gravity of your offending I require for legal reasons to specify the sentences I would have imposed if I had been dealing with the charges individually.
In respect of charge 1 I would have imposed 5 years and in relation to charges 2 and 3 both of which refer to the same incident I would have imposed 7 years. I would have allowed those sentences to run concurrently giving a total of 7 years in respect of those three charges.
I would have imposed 7 years in respect of the rape in charge 6 and six years in respect of charge 7. I would have ordered those sentences both of which involved the second complainer to run concurrently with one another.
Finally in relation to the remainder of the charges which involved the third victim I would have imposed 6 years in relation to charge 8, 7 years in relation to charges 9 and 10 and 2 years in relation to charge 11 which also takes account of the bail aggravations, again all to run concurrently with one another.
I accept that if those sentences were to run consecutively the total period would have been 21 years which is excessive and I will therefore reduce that to arrive at a cumulative sentence which is both fair and proportionate. I shall therefore reduce that by one third and impose a custodial period of 14 years. I shall reduce that period by a further 2 months to take account of the period which you spent on remand between 24th August and 14th October 2022. Accordingly the custodial period which you will require to serve will be 13 years and 10 months.
Turning then to the Extension Period :as this is an extended sentence, you will be subject to a period of post release supervision. The extension part of your sentence will be one of 5 years, during which time you will be subject to close monitoring and supervision. The conditions of your licence will be fixed by the Scottish Ministers. If during this extension period you fail to comply with any of the conditions of your release licence, it may be revoked and you may be returned to prison for a further period in respect of this case. The court also has the power to deal with you if you commit another offence, after your release from the custodial term of this extended sentence.
The total effect for you, Mr Sharpe, is an extended sentence of 18 years and 10 months . That is comprised of a custodial sentence of 13 years and 10 months and an extension period of 5 years . This sentence will run from today’s day and will therefore be concurrent with the sentence you are now serving.
Notification period
You will remain subject to the notification requirements applicable to sex offenders for an indefinite period and your name will be intimated to the Scottish Ministers for addition to the list of persons deemed unsuitable to work with vulnerable groups.
Non Harassment Order.
Finally, standing the evidence of previous telephone contact having taken place between you and the complainer in charges 8,9,10 and 11, during your incarceration and having regard in particular to the provisions of Section 234AZA of the 1995 Act, I shall impose non-harassment orders for an indefinite period in respect of the complainers named in the charges and covering the address of the third complainer and also in relation to the children of the complainers whose names have been provided by the Advocate Depute but which I shall not repeat in open court.
Accordingly you must not approach or contact the named complainers or children in person or by electronic or any other means, either directly nor indirectly through any other person.
