Rapist who 'terrorised' his victim told his sentence was 'entirely justified' 

Fayle jailed for 18 years and 9 months

A warning that this story contains information which some readers may find distressing.

A convicted rapist who ‘terrorised’ his victim has been told the sentence handed down to him was not ‘manifestly excessive’.

Jon Paul Fayle was jailed in January for 18 years and nine months after standing trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery a month earlier.

He was found guilty of seven offences including rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, attempting to choke, and controlling and coercive behaviour.

The court heard he’d engaged in a ‘most-serious form of controlling and coercive behaviours’ towards his girlfriend at the time over a period of nine months in 2023.

She’d described their relationship as being ‘like a rollercoaster’.

This ‘prolonged conduct’ ended on 25 November 2023 after he inflicted further violence, and sexual violence, towards her over a number of hours.

Appeal

Post-sentence Fayle launched an appeal claiming the deemster’s approach to it was ‘unclear’ and that some aggravating features had been ‘double-counted’.

The appeal was held in the Staff of Government Division on 1 May 2026 and was presided over by Judge of Appeal Cross KC and Acting Deemster Hopmeier.

They described it as a ‘serious case’ which raised important issues relevant to sentencing in cases of serious sexual offences generally and concerning controlling and coercive behaviour.

“The offence of rape represents a grave and distinct violation, quantitively different from the course of coercive and controlling behaviour which preceded it.

“The coercive behaviour involved sustained emotional domination, intimidation, control and violence over many months.

“The rape represents not merely a continuation of that conduct, but a significant escalation in the nature and seriousness of the offending, crossing into a different category of criminality altogether.”

Judge of Appeal Cross KC and Acting Deemster Hopmeier.

Mitigation

Judge of Appeal Cross KC and Acting Deemster Hopmeier said they were ‘sympathetic’ to Fayle’s advocate’s suggestion that there was the potential for ‘double counting’ in the sentence.  

However they said Fayle had a ‘very bad record indeed’, with 29 convictions for 57 offences, adding they couldn’t understand why any credit for mitigation had been given.

Fayle, they said, was assessed as posing a high risk of serious harm to the public ‘in particular future intimate partners’.

Accepting that he’d had a ‘difficult background’ they said they were ‘absolutely certain’ that mitigation will have been used ‘on many occasions in his offending’.

They added: “In our judgment there is simply no personal mitigation available to him at all.”

'Entirely justified'

In conclusion they said they were satisfied that the sentence was not manifestly excessive adding: “As is plain from the analysis of the facts of the case the sentence was entirely justified.”

You can find the full judgement HERE.

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