Press release: Ex-West Yorkshire police officer has rape sentence increased

An ex-police officer who raped a woman 40 years ago while on duty has today had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred it for being too low.

David Lomax was a 43 year old serving with the West Yorkshire Police at the time of offending, and responsible for arresting those who had failed to pay court-ordered fines. In October 1978, Lomax was sent to arrest his victim, but instead he told her that she would have to perform a sexual favour for him to avoid being arrested and going to prison. Lomax then raped the victim.

When the victim was later arrested for non-payment of the fine, she told the arresting officers about the rape. While DNA testing was able to identify a specimen as not belonging to the victim’s partner, and possibly belonging to Lomax; it was not able to identify Lomax conclusively.

The case was reopened in 2016, and modern DNA testing was able to prove that the specimen belonged to Lomax, leading to his arrest.

Lomax, now 84, was originally sentenced in October 2018 to 4 years and 9 months imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court. Today, the Court of Appeal has increased his sentence to 8 years in prison.

Commenting on the increase, the Solicitor General said:

“Lomax abused his position of trust as a police officer, and got away with his crime for too long. Thanks to modern forensic science, he was brought to book. It is only right that it is now made clear to him that his actions have not been forgotten and will be met with the full force of the law.”