Bromley Man’s Appeal Against Brighton Rape Conviction Denied
Ashley Lewis’s appeal was rejected, upholding his conviction for raping a teenager in Brighton
Brighton, UK, Ashley Lewis, Rape, Court of Appeal, Victim
This all went down back in June 2021. Lewis had come to Brighton to spend the day secretly filming women on the beach before he met the girl. Things took a dark turn when he and a guy named Dylan Holden, whom he had never met before, ended up assaulting her.
Recently, Lewis tried to appeal his conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal. He had already been turned down by a single judge, and this time, a panel of three judges said no again. Justice May pointed out that while the sentence was tough, the crime was really serious.
So, Lewis is stuck serving his 16-and-a-half-year sentence. During the trial, the court saw CCTV footage of him and Holden leading the drunk girl to where the assault happened. They even caught Lewis stealing from her bag, which was later found at his place.
He was convicted of rape, sexual assault, and theft. Holden got six years for his part in the crime. The victim shared how the whole experience left her with nightmares and made her terrified to go outside.
She said, “Whenever I left my house, I couldn’t get away from it.” But getting the verdict felt like a weight lifted off her shoulders, even though the memories still haunt her. It’s like a dark cloud that just won’t go away.