A film student who claimed he was “dreaming” when he repeatedly raped two women while they slept has been jailed for 14 years.

Connor Yaxley, 30, sexually assaulted another woman by touching her while she slept on a chair at his home.

The pervert claimed he was asleep when he had sex with his victims and was unaware of his actions.

But a jury took just six hours to convict him following a trial after hearing he had told one of the women he fantasized about rape.

He told her in a text: ‘When my hormones are going up I just can’t control myself. I can’t keep hurting people. I am afraid of my own urges.

Connor Yaxley claimed he was “dreaming” when he raped two women as they slept

The court heard one victim was sexually assaulted after falling asleep at his home

One of Yaxley’s devastated victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described him as a “crazy man” as he was put behind bars.

She said: “It feels like there’s a constant bogeyman on my shoulder, like a phantom fear that’s hard to explain.

“I still can’t sleep through the night because of this feeling I get at night.”

Another said she was “haunted” by the defendant, saying: “I will never heal from this trauma. At least now I know he won’t be able to prey on other women.

Yaxley’s first victim told the court he used the excuse to have sex with her while he was asleep on several occasions.

Another time, he claimed he accidentally penetrated her while she was sleeping.

The other rape victim described to police how she woke up twice from a deep sleep to find the predator having sex with her.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, she told Norwich Crown Court that the second incident happened when he told her explicitly that he did not want to have sex.

She explained to jurors that she was fast asleep and took time to wake up and realize what was happening.

“I thought he was sleeping and woke him up and asked him why. He said he didn’t remember and he must have done it in his dreams and he’s so sorry and he doesn’t know what he’s doing,’ she said.

Under cross-examination, the woman admitted that she accepted his explanations at the time and that on the third occasion she consented to sex after waking up to find Yaxley touching her intimately.

But she went on to say that she only came to realize his actions were wrong after he confessed to a friend.

The court heard that the third victim was sexually assaulted after she fell asleep in an armchair at the defendant’s home in Great Yarmouth, Suffolk.

Prosecutor Andrew Thompson said the August 2020 incident was “unwanted attachment that was clearly sexual”.

Yaxley claimed he woke up having sex with a woman and complained of bad dreams

Yaxley told police in an interview that he would do things “unknowingly, because he was dreaming at the time”.

He also claimed to have a history of bad dreams and waking up to find himself having sex with one of the women.

But Mr Thompson told the jury that a person can only consent to sex by “choice” – and if they have the “freedom and ability to make that choice”. A sleeping woman was the same as an “unconscious” woman, he added.

Yaxley’s actions showed he “won’t take no for an answer” and his behavior was “that of a rapist”.

Yaxley, who studied film at the University of Suffolk, based at East Coast College in Great Yarmouth, was convicted of five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault between 2017 and 2020.

Judge Andrew Shaw said he was considering a life sentence after Yaxley was sentenced in August.

Sentencing him on Friday, he said he had the “gravest concerns” about the defendant, adding: “It’s a worrying trait that you seem to think it’s okay to have sex with sleeping, unconscious women.”

Referring to a victim he admitted to having rape fantasies about, the judge continued: “You said you like to use her as a napkin and that crying girls turn you on.”

Yaxley will also be placed on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a lifetime sexual harm prevention order, which will require him to inform the police of all future relationships upon his release from prison.

Investigating officer Constable Dylan Thomas said after the hearing: “These offenses took place while these women were asleep and at their most vulnerable.

“They weren’t sure if anyone would believe them until they reported what happened to the police and they showed great courage despite the trauma they had suffered.

“I would urge anyone who believes they are a victim of rape or sexual assault to report it to the police so that positive action can be taken against the perpetrator.”